Carolyn Kaster / AP

THE WHITE HOUSE ARGUMENT
BY DAVID BROOKS
NEW YORK TIMES

If the president is truly committed to a strategy for progressive fiscal stability, as Bill Clinton was, he’ll make that the center of his campaign. He’ll earn a mandate. He’ll win over independents who want fiscal discipline but worry about the way Republicans get there. If he doesn’t have a passion for fiscal stability, he’ll campaign on side issues and try to win by scaring everybody about the other side. We’ll see.

... AND LOVE HANDLES FOR ALL
BY FRANK BRUNI
NEW YORK TIMES

The kind of consciousness-raising and corporate prodding being done by Michelle Obama — laudable as it is — won’t be nearly enough. Neither will the extra green space for exercise that cities like Nashville have commendably created, or New York City officials’ admirable exile of sugary sodas from public school vending machines. These important steps, plus others under consideration, are just the start. Let’s move, yes. But let’s do it a whole lot faster, because what we may be trying to hold back is a near inevitable tide.

Must-Read Op-Eds for Monday, April 16, 2012

ROMNEY'S INADEQUATE IDEAS TO PAY FOR TAX CUTS
EDITORIAL
WASHINGTON POST

Tax preferences add up to a remarkable amount — some $12 trillion over 10 years for the major ones alone, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Yet the bulk of these, for items such as tax-free treatment of employer-sponsored health insurance, preferential tax treatment of pension and retirement savings, and mortgage interest, do not flow to the very wealthy. Going after tax expenditures, and using some of the resulting revenue to deal with the debt, is a good idea. Pretending that the only taxpayers to be inconvenienced by this approach would be the very wealthy is deeply misleading.

WHICH MITT WILL WE GET?
BY EUGENE ROBINSON
WASHINGTON POST

It’s going to be fascinating to watch as more of these internal conflicts come to light. Last week, the Mitt One campaign jumped all over remarks by Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen suggesting that stay-at-home mothers don’t really work. But MSNBC’s Chris Hayes unearthed a video clip in which Mitt Two boasted of his initiatives in Massachusetts to compel mothers who received public assistance to hold employment outside the home, where they could benefit from the “dignity of work.” The presidential debates shouldn’t be much of a chore for Obama this fall. He can just stand by while Romney argues with himself.

TRICKLE-DOWN TAXATION
BY GROVER NORQUIST
WALL STREET JOURNAL

One other reason voters of all incomes may keep a firm grasp on their wallets is that Mr. Obama's proposed budget for the next decade calls for spending all money raised on his planned tax increases on the rich. Yet despite higher taxes on "them," it never, ever gets to balance. The president's budget increases the national debt by $6.7 trillion in a mere 10 years. So to actually balance the budget, Mr. Obama will be looking for $6.7 trillion (to start) to come out of the hide of . . . guess who. It appears that American taxpayers have noticed this pattern of trickle-down taxation. Such tactics have a shelf life. There is a reason the Greeks did not conquer the rest of Asia Minor with the Trojan Horse trick that worked so well the first time.

THE 'LIKABLE' BARACK OBAMA
BY WILLIAM MCGURN
WALL STREET JOURNAL

If ever the stars were in alignment for liberal Democratic policies to shine, it was during the first two years of Mr. Obama's presidency, after he had handily defeated John McCain and been sent to Washington with huge, veto-proof majorities in Congress. Mr. Romney already has the votes of those who dislike Mr. Obama. The votes he needs are there for the asking: folks who like Mr. Obama but have serious doubts about his leadership as president.

AFGHANISTAN'S BLOODY SPRING
EDITORIAL
WALL STREET JOURNAL

Debates over war strategy aren't unique to this Administration, but the political detachment of Mr. Obama from his own surge is unprecedented—and demoralizing. U.S. Ambassador to Kabul Ryan Crocker has made no secret of his frustration with the "two-front war" that he and his colleagues must wage—in Afghanistan and in Washington. To adapt John Kerry, what soldier wants to be the last to die in a war that the President no longer believes in? Time and again, the U.S. military has fulfilled its end of the bargain in Afghanistan. The least Mr. Obama can do is let the troops know he still believes in their cause.

IN DENIAL ABOUT DEBT CRISIS
BY JOE SCARBOROUGH
POLITICO

To drive home the point that legislating is now little more than campaigning by different means, New York Sen. Chuck Schumer used the occasion of today's vote to suggest the provision's name should be changed to "The Romney Rule" because the presumptive GOP nominee is so rich. With all the game playing that is going on inside the Beltway, it is fair for voters to ask whether any adults are left working in a town that is always concerned with winning the next election rather than the new century.