Read their lips

The administration isn't exactly speaking with one voice, is it?

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs worked for his paycheck yesterday. It wasn't easy. And he can thank Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and chief economic advisor Lawrence Summers for all the help.

Appearing on the Sunday morning news shows both Geithner and Summers left the door open for possible middle class tax hikes down the road. The problem with that is candidate Obama spoke out against raising taxes on the middle class while running for president last year. He supposedly nailed that door shut.

“You will not see your taxes increased by a single dime,” Obama said during the campaign.

The headline on the story was "Ooops, Summer and Geithner forget Obama said no tax hikes." Anybody believe that? This AP analysis hints at what is really going on: "President Barack Obama is struggling to find a way to pay for an overhaul of the nation's health care system without violating his campaign promise not to raise taxes on the middle class." At worst, Obama is trying to prepare Americans for tax increases he has in mind. At best, he is testing the political waters to see if he can get away with the increases.

"Not by a single dime" isn't quite as forceful as "Read by lips, no new taxes," but it's awfully close.