The New York Times reports that the Obama administration is considering health care benefits. To the paper's credit, the lede notes just how thick the hypocrisy is on this. Obama attacked McCain relentlessly during the campaign for proposing a health care reform that would have done the same thing, only it would have included a $5,000 tax credit to offset the change in policy. On Meet the Press this morning, Christina Romer said while the administration doesn't support the idea, neither would she rule it out.
This is probably the second most hypocritical thing the Obama administration has done this week, after President Obama issued his first signing statements on Wednesday despite repeated criticism during the campaign of the Bush administration for doing precisely the same thing (though like Bush, Obama was right to issue such statements in order to prevent any infringement by Congress on his prerogatives as president).
Here's one of the several health care ads Obama put up during the campaign lambasting the idea of taxing health care benefits. Note the quotes from Joe Klein, who will no doubt soon charge in to criticize Obama's audacious reversal. Another ad, featuring Obama attacking the issue in his own voice, can be found here.
