President Obama and the Democrats are finally happy. Liberated from thoughts of compromise with Republicans, they can fully indulge their most lascivious pleasure — trashing rich people. “We simply cannot afford these special lower rates for the wealthy,” President Obama declared in his Rose Garden message Monday.

“Give ’em hell, Barry,” cheered Hendrik Hertzberg of The New Yorker. Hertzberg was chipper. Not so of Paul Krugman from The New York Times, the Democratic Party’s choleric scold: “The rage of the rich has been building ever since Mr. Obama took office,” he glowered. “. . .And among the undeniably rich, a belligerent sense of entitlement has taken hold: It’s their money, and they have the right to keep it.” Imagine.