President Barack Obama has taken the politically expensive but prudent option of refusing to extend the Bush era tax cuts for the rich, which are set to expire at year's end.

He is being equally sensible in retaining the tax cuts for single filers making less than $200,000 and couples earning up to $250,000, who account for 98 percent of U.S. households. These were targeted primarily to help middle-class Americans, who are by no means rich and are hard-hit by an economy with high unemployment and little sign of growth.

In doing so Mr. Obama is taking on the "greedy rich," some of whom are the CEOs of large corporations who are making, on average, 263 times as much as the average American worker. As he seeks to roll back their tax rates to pre-2001 levels, they will strike at him and the Democratic Party by pouring contributions into this fall's campaigns on behalf of tea party and Republican candidates who continue to block White House efforts to boost employment and curb the recession.

One option was to extend the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans until 2013, an expiration date safely past not only the 2010 congressional elections but also the 2012 presidential and congressional races. Mr. Obama showed sound fiscal judgment and courage in refusing this. Estimates show that the cuts cost the federal government $1.6 trillion. The current budget deficit stands at $1.3 trillion and the national debt at $13 trillion. Why would Mr. Obama want to wait another three years to begin attacking that mess?

The federal government needs revenue sooner, particularly if he is to fulfill his pledge to put $50 billion into building America's transportation infrastructure, creating jobs in the process, as he said Monday. That initiative was probably ill-timed, given the practice of congressional Republicans to pursue a "no-nothing" approach to Mr. Obama's proposals, including presumably even an effort to tackle the dual problems of ailing infrastructure and stubborn joblessness.

What remains remarkable is the apparent belief by Republicans that opposing Mr. Obama's efforts to improve the situation of the unemployed will attract the support of the tea partiers. Are they all rich? Do they not need programs such as Social Security and more affordable medical care?

The Nov. 2 election is still almost eight weeks off. It will be interesting to see how much understanding of the country's financial situation will be reflected in Americans' votes that day.

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