It appears President Obama may be preparing to break his central campaign promise to not raise taxes on middle class Americans.  This morning, on ABC News’ This Week, George Stephanopoulos asked Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner whether Obama would back out of his tax pledge.

 

To get the economy back on track, will President Barack Obama have to break his pledge not to raise taxes on 95 percent of Americans? In a “This Week” exclusive, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner told me, “We’re going to have to do what’s necessary.”

 

Geithner was clear that he believes a key component of economic recovery is deficit reduction. When I gave him several opportunities to rule out a middle class tax hike, he wouldn’t do it.

 

“We have to bring these deficits down very dramatically,” Geithner told me. “And that’s going to require some very hard choices.”