Barack Obama, a supply-sider on tax cuts? So it seems, given our latest excursion into the wacky world of Obamanomics, or what the Democratic presidential nominee prescribes for the ailing economy.

Some of this is Democratic boilerplate, the sort of nonsensical policy dictated to the candidate by organized labor and other special interests. We hear Obama threatening to pull out of trade deals, refusing to fix Social Security, spending billions on social programs, etc. And then, a few weeks go by, and we hear the opposite as Obama begins to retreat from his own words and promises in order to move to the center.

But recently we heard something different from the Democratic presidential nominee, something on taxes that made so much sense that, frankly, we had trouble believing it had come from a Democrat. Well, maybe with one exception. John F. Kennedy famously kicked off his administration with a huge tax cut for the wealthy — the income group that pays the most taxes — in an attempt to put more money back into the hands of Americans and strengthen the economy.

As it turns out, Obama has been compared to Kennedy. And now it seems that, on the topic of taxes, the comparison may have some merit.

The Democratic nominee has said in the past that he had no plans to extend President George W. Bush's tax cuts beyond their expiration date in 2010 and that, instead, he plans to push for his own set of tax cuts for the middle class. But asked on ABC's “This Week” if he plans to go though with his tax cuts, he said yes. But when host George Stephanopolous asked Obama if he would also consider raising taxes on the wealthy, the Democrat noted that the economy is “fragile” and backed off a bit.

“I think we've got to take a look and see where the economy is,” Obama said. “I mean, the economy is weak right now.”

First, it is not a bad thing for someone running for president to say he'd like to “take a look and see where the economy is” before charging ahead with reflexive and poorly conceived economic policy such as raising taxes. What the Democratic nominee said was reasonable and practical. But we can't help but deconstruct what Obama said and conclude that he thinks raising taxes on the wealthy could further damage an already weak economy. And going further, if you consider the inverse of what he said, it seems the Democrat is at least open to the possibility that lowering taxes might actually help stimulate the economy.

Where have we heard that before? Usually, from pro-business Republicans. As a rule, Democrats don't express such economic views. But Obama seems to be catching on to the basics of sound economics in a hurry.

Glad to hear it. Now, if we can only keep him from backtracking when the pressure builds for him to fall back in line with Democratic interest groups.

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