In case you wondered how Barack Obama could promise a tax cut to 95% of Americans?  It turns out that Obama has a very … broad definition of tax cut.  While the rest of us labor under the delusion that a tax cut means the government takes less of your money, Obama believes that any money you might save represents a tax cut, as he hints during last Wednesday’s press conference:

We began by passing a Recovery Act that has already saved or created over 150,000 jobs and provided a tax cut to 95 percent of all working families. We passed a law to provide and protect health insurance for 11 million American children whose parents work full time. And we launched a housing plan that has already contributed to a spike in the number of homeowners who are refinancing their mortgages, which is the equivalent of another tax cut.

If this sounds familiar, it’s because Obama tried claiming credit for tax cuts through mortgage re-fis before.  It was an Obamateurism of the Day in March, too, and I suspect we’ll have to open a complete subcategory of OOTD where Obama expands tax cuts to include supermarket coupons, software rebates, and the change you find in your couch.  I suppose when someone starts with the assumption that the government should direct the redistribution of all wealth, the idea that a mortgage refinance is a tax cut — when it in fact reduces the amount of money one can deduct from their taxes — makes a little more sense.

Got an Obamateurism of the Day? If you see a foul-up by Barack Obama, e-mail it to me at [email protected] with the quote and the link to the Obamateurism. I’ll post the best Obamateurisms on a daily basis, depending on how many I receive. Include a link to your blog, and I’ll give some link love as well. And unlike Slate, I promise to end the feature when Barack Obama leaves office.

Illustrations by Chris Muir of Day by Day. Be sure to read the adventures of Sam, Zed, Damon, and Jan every day!