GOP Throws Obama's Old Deficit Stands Back At Him

By CHARLES BABINGTON

WASHINGTON (AP) ⿿ Some of the best Republican arguments against President Barack Obama's proposals to avoid a "fiscal cliff" come from the president himself, in comments he made months or years before his re-election.

Stung by the GOP's midterm election gains in 2010, Obama took stands that differ from his current positions on raising tax rates, adjusting Social Security and other topics now dominating Washington as a Dec. 31 deadline nears.

Sometimes gleefully, Republicans throw Obama's old words back at him. They portray him as inconsistent at best, insincere at worst.

The strategy has limits, however. Elections make a difference.

Obama signaled last year he would give ground on income tax rates and entitlement programs, after his fellow Democrats suffered what he called a "shellacking" in November 2010. Republicans took over the House, and the GOP saw Obama as vulnerable in 2012.

But he turned the tables last month. His party gained House and Senate seats, while he handily won a second term with a campaign that explicitly called for raising tax rates on incomes above $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for couples. Republicans have adamantly opposed higher tax rates for anyone.

Republicans can complain all they want, Obama supporters say: Democrats won the last election, so the ghosts of debates past are banished, and Obama's current positions are the ones that matter.

Nonetheless, Republicans keep reminding Americans of his previous positions, hoping for any edge in the partisan arguments over the fiscal cliff. The combination of major tax hikes and spending cuts will start affecting nearly every American in January if lawmakers and the White House can't reach a compromise deficit-reduction plan by Dec. 31.

The previous Obama positions that Republicans love to recount include:

⿿ Tax revenues. At a July 2011 news conference, Obama said the government could increase such revenues by $1.2 trillion over 10 years without raising income tax rates. It could be done, he said, "by eliminating loopholes, eliminating some deductions and engaging in a tax reform process that could have lowered rates generally while broadening the base."

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