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Obama Camp Puts Forward More Modest Tax Changes - New York Times (8/16/08):

Senator Barack Obama appears to be altering his proposals for extending Social Security payroll taxes and raising the capital gains tax, by delaying the increases or scaling them back.

Mr. Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, has not abandoned either his support for a higher tax rate on capital gains or his proposal to subject individual wages above $250,000 to the Social Security payroll tax. But recent statements by campaign aides suggested that the latest iterations of the plans are more modest.

On Thursday, for example, Mr. Obama’s chief economic adviser, Jason Furman, said that the Social Security payroll tax extension favored by Mr. Obama would only go into effect in a decade, after he had left office.

They’re going to lose this election by being too careful.