Is it just me, or has this been underreported?

President Obama’s budget chief hinted Wednesday that the president’s signature campaign issue — a middle-class tax cut — will not likely survive a budget battle with Democrats on Capitol Hill.

The president stresses that despite tough times, things will improve.

On a conference call with reporters in advance of the president’s trip to the Hill to speak before the Senate Democratic caucus, Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag indicated that, while 98 percent of the budget mark-ups in the House and Senate are on par with the administration’s budget blueprint, some campaign trail promises, like middle-class tax cuts, may get left on the cutting room floor.

Greg Mankiw notes a historic parallel.

As Obama is constantly saying, he’s being forced to make tough choices. One of them seems to be to double the federal debt even if it means surrendering on his transparent promise to give a rebate to those who don’t pay income taxes. It’s just another example of him choosing Washington-knows-best central planning over allowing Americans to spend more of their own money.