You know Leo, the problem isn't liberalism, it clearly is the idea that conservatives are not the same as a liberal.
See Leo, for the past 40 years, not one congress who was in control of either party has done much to lower the tax rates without closing off write offs. Even under the great pseudo conservative Ronald Reagan, the effective tax rate went down, which did spur growth but the deductions that helped a lot of lower and mid middle class people went away. A lot of people may have paid less taxes when they hit $50k but those who didn't make $50k may have paid more.
THIS also is illustrated in the fight to change the tax system.
UNDER a republican congress with a republican president, the tax code expanded something like 63%, something like 8 feet of printed changes and new regulations during the Bush administration before 2007. SO if I was to guess at the idea that Obama fell asleep in Tax 101 class, I would have to think that almost all of the republican congress and Bush also fell asleep because they didn't make those changes perminate nor did they stop adding taxes and fees.
Even now, the republicans in congress didn't even fight, they compromised and lost the battle with Obama. They were expected to stand their ground and not give one extension but they acted like their liberal counterpart in so much as trying to avoid a "government shutdown" which in effect bandaid the problem until the 2012 budget - it was to many a disgusting move and they lost credibility over it.
If I would expect anything to happen, it wouldn't be because of the great president demanding it but rather because the ineffective republican leadership in the house who is willing to compromise to keep the country going.
