Romney Is Robin Hood In Reverse, Says Obama

Robin Hood is famous for stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. Mitt Romney, according to President Obama, wants to be “robin hood in reverse” by stealing from the poor and giving to the rich.

After raising $2.3 million at a celebrity fundraiser, Obama said:

“It’s robin hood in reverse… It’s Romney Hood… The entire centerpiece of Mitt Romney’s economic plan is a new $5 trillion tax cut… Governor Romney’s plan would effectively raise taxes on middle-class families with children by an average of $2,000 to pay for this tax cut, not to reduce the deficit, not to invest in things that grow our economy. … He’d ask the middle class to pay more taxes so that he could give another $250,000 tax cut to people making more than $3 million a year.”

CNBC points out that Obama’s “robin hood in reverse” comment is clever, but it’s not entirely original. The phrase has apparently been around in US Politics since the 1970s when George meany, the president of the AFL-CIO, used the phrase for Richard Nixon. The term was also used by Albert Shanker, president of the American Federation of Teachers, against Ronald Reagan.

The phrase has also been used to describe the Stock Exchange, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and even President Obama.

Congressman Bernie Sanders said that by compromising with Republicans on taxes, Obama was “taking from the middle class and working families, and we are giving it to the wealthiest people in this country.”

To Obama’s credit, “Romney Hood” appears to be an original term.

Do you think Mitt Romney wants be Robin Hood in reverse?