OPINION:
As March Madness ended and President Obama’s re-election campaign began, the president seemed to have forgotten basketball’s winning principles as they might apply to the national economy (“Obama campaigns for deficit reduction plan,” Politics, Web, April 19).
Imagine a tournament in which the highest scorer was asked to give up a percentage of his points to a losing team to change the outcome. Picture a tournament in which the strategy was to win not by scoring points but rather by injuring all the best players. These are both great ways to level the playing field, but what do they do to the game?
Mr. Obama’s plan to increase taxes makes little sense to anyone with knowledge of motivational techniques. He encourages the crowd at his rallies to boo those who have the most to contribute to the economy. By this logic, the best players would want to walk away.
Perhaps Mr. Obama should persuade the NCAA championship committee to adopt new rules next March based on his personal economic strategy for fair play. Then we Americans could see how successful his ideas are while it is merely a game rather than the economic future of our country. With Mr. Obama’s plan to punish the most economically successful with higher taxes, tax “brackets” might take on a whole new meaning.
CAROL DUNCAN
Jeffersonton, Va.
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