Elections have consequences. Campaigns don't.

Candidate Barack Obama:

Taxing health care benefits and cutting Medicare and Medicaid. Beyond the pale.

President Barack Obama

Taxing health care benefits

Back in March, White House budget director Peter Orszag said taxing employer benefits was among several ideas that “most firmly should remain on the table,” and some congressional Democrats told the Washington Post that White House officials said Obama would accept such a tax “as long as he didn’t have to propose it himself.”

Cutting Medicare and Medicaid

President Obama yesterday outlined measures to trim spending on federal health programs for the elderly and the poor by an additional $313 billion over the next decade, bringing his total proposed savings close to the amount necessary to cover the cost of his signature health-care plan, a top adviser said.

Forget the 2008 campaign. It never happened. The President won't be hemmed in by some silly promises he made to get the job. If he's going to steal John McCain's health care plan that "we can't afford", the least he could do is offer to make McCain Health Czar or something. I don't think he's appointed a new Czar of anything for two weeks.