President Obama the self-proclaimed compromiser sounds the same as Obama the partisan politician running for reelection. At his press conference Wednesday, he harped on what had been a chief talking point of his campaign—raising taxes for the wealthy.

He not only brought it up in his opening statement, it was the thrust of those remarks. He touted the tax hike on the top 2 percent of taxpayers in response to questions about that subject specifically and to a question about the “fiscal cliff.” And he used arguments for the tax increase lifted directly from his campaign speeches.