It’s not too often, as Bryan Preston notes, when a president tips his hand this early on what his tax policy will be if re-elected. Thankfully, Barack Obama is a special kind of President — the one who doesn’t get his brain engaged before his jaw when speaking extemporaneously, emphasis mine:

“So, when you hear folks saying ‘Well, the president shouldn’t want massive job killing tax increases when the economy is this weak.’ Nobody’s looking to raise taxes right now. We’re talking about potentially 2013 and the out years.”

Bryan writes:

Re-elect me to get massive job killing tax hikes when I’m a lame duck and you can’t do a thing about it. That right there is a sure-fire winner of a message. If you want to morph into Walter Mondale circa 1984.

Romney’s campaign has already begun to circulate this, as has the RNC.  Don’t be surprised to see this clip featured in a lot of commercials in 2012.

It’s worth taking a moment to get serious and make a couple of points.  First, on the trajectory we’re seeing now, we’re not going to be in better position in 2013 than we are now; we’re going to be lucky if we manage to avoid a recession this year, and next year it’s probably unavoidable.  Second, if investors are looking at massive, job-killing taxes in 2013, why would they bother to invest now at all?  They’ll just have this much time to shelter their income and capital — which is exactly what will happen.  It’s similar to what’s happening with capital investors and ObamaCare now.  Killing the jobs will be well underway long before the tax hikes arrive in 2013.

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!