Obama plans campaign-style trip to push higher taxes

[Geee]

Washington Times:

President Obama is hitting the hustings in a campaign-style push for tax increases, and his first stop is Pennsylvania — a battleground state with the kinds of Republicans who he thinks could be amenable to being swayed by grass-roots pressure.

Since his re-election three weeks ago, Mr. Obama has stuck to his campaign message that raising taxes on high earners is the best way to reduce the nation’s soaring deficits and avoid veering off the so-called “fiscal cliff.” He has spent the past two weeks trying to drum up additional public support for the plan, resisting GOP efforts to find the revenue strictly in other areas of the tax code by closing loopholes and eliminating deductions.

Instead of meeting with congressional leaders, Mr. Obama has focused on trying to build more support for his plan outside Washington — sitting down with small-business owners and big-business leaders to rally their support and holding a photo-op with a group of supportive middle-class Americans as the backdrop.

“The American people are watching what we do,” Mr. Obama warned at a Wednesday event at the White House. “When the American people speak loudly enough, lo and behold, Congress listens. It’s too important for Washington to screw this up.”