White House believes assaults on Boehner are bearing fruit

AIR FORCE ONE — White House spokesman Bill Burton said
the White House strategy of elevating House Minority Leader John Boehner in
recent days appears to be working.

Burton told reporters on Air Force One that the assaults
from White House officials on Boehner have been successful in getting across
Obama’s defense of ending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.

{mosads}“What’s important here is the underlying fight, which is
that the president and congressional Democrats are for extending tax cuts for
families who make less than $250,000 a year,” he said.

“So to the extent that we’ve had a vigorous debate about
that, I think that, yes, it has been successful,” Burton said.

He added that ending tax cuts for the rich while extending
them for the middle class is “the right thing to do to grow our economy.”

“It’s the right thing to do to help create jobs,” Burton
said. “And what you’ve seen over the course of the last week is a real
discussion about that, both in Washington and out around the country.”

Burton made the comments as the president was traveling to
Philadelphia to deliver his second annual Back to School speech.