The Buffett Tax is a gimmick, but it does serve an important purpose: it is a testament to Obama’s failed leadership and how he has abandoned the spirit of his 2008 campaign. In four years, Obama has gone from “hope” to hypocrisy.

As President Obama himself said in 2008, “If you don’t have a record to run on, then you…make a big election about small things.” Four years ago, that was supposed to be a charge against politics-as-usual. Today, it sounds like a line straight from the Obama playbook.

The president knows he has no record to run on, so he is resorting to petty tactics—just as he did in a major speech last week when he attacked Republicans for passing a budget. He called the House Republican budget “radical” and a “Trojan Horse.”