Ron Christie, who was an assistant to both Dick Cheney and George W. Bush and is frequently a talking head on political shows like "Hardball," is conflating a couple of common wingnut memes here: that liberals deviously support the welfare state because it keeps people poor and that Obama hates rich people.

Add them up and, presto! Obama doesn't want you to get rich.

It would be a much more interesting election if Republicans were actually running against the real Obama, instead of the one they imagine in their tiny, warped minds.