To hear some Republicans tell it, President Obama is a spend-first proponent of big government who wants to intrude into your life by stopping you from having guns and-- God forbid--forcing people to have health care coverage.

But what if I were to tell you that Obama and the Democrats had actually lowered taxes in the past two years.

That's right. Read my lips: Lowered taxes.

And that's part of the problem with Obama and Democrats of late. They have not done a good job in making the public aware of their accomplishments. The New York Times writes:

In a troubling sign for Democrats as they head into the midterm elections, their signature tax cut of the past two years, which decreased income taxes by up to $400 a year for individuals and $800 for married couples, has gone largely unnoticed.

In a New York Times/CBS News Poll last month, fewer than one in 10 respondents knew that the Obama administration had lowered taxes for most Americans. Half of those polled said they thought that their taxes had stayed the same, a third thought that their taxes had gone up, and about a tenth said they did not know.

"This was the tax cut that fell in the woods - nobody heard it," Thom Tillis, a Republican state representative in North Carolina, told the Times.

Instead, the debate about tax cuts in this country has been dominated by the Republican driven ideology that the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy should be renewed even though this country can't afford it and the wealthy don't really need it.

The Times writes that the tax cut was purposely designed with little fanfare in an effort to increase spending. Instead of issuing rebate checks, less tax money was withheld from people's paychecks.

"They reasoned that people would be more likely to spend a small, recurring extra bit of money that they might not even notice, and that the quicker the money was spent, the faster it would cycle through the economy," the Times wrote.

Obama said the furtive tax break "was the right thing to do economically, but politically it meant that nobody knew that they were getting a tax cut."

"And in fact what ended up happening was six months into it, or nine months into it," the president said, "people had thought we had raised their taxes instead of cutting their taxes."

Like these guys the Times wrote about:

Bob Deaton, 73, who wore a "Fair Tax" baseball cap, was surprised to hear that there were tax cuts in the $787 billion stimulus bill, which was wildly unpopular with many at the rally even though roughly a third of it was in the form of tax cuts.

"Tax cuts?" he asked. "Where were the tax cuts?"

Ron Julian, 50, a Huntersville town commissioner, said he thought his taxes had gone up under Mr. Obama. And Mr. Paratore, a former Hearst executive, said he might have noticed the tax cuts if his paycheck had jumped more in the weeks before he retired last year: "I couldn't even tell you what it was, to be honest with you."

That, Mr. President, is your fault. Once the tax cut had been in effect for a little while, it would have been nice to let Americans in on the secret. How can one spend money that they don't even know they have?

Politically, it has put the Republicans on track to win control of the House, and gain more control in the Senate. And then guess what? There will be a tax break that everyone will hear about: the continuation of the Bush era tax cuts.

With a few weeks to go before the election, Obama and others should be spreading the word as noisily as they can. Michelle Obama, in her campaign stops, should be talking about this. It's just one example of how easy it is to twist things in this current political landscape.

Take for example that a significant chunk of people believe Obama is a Muslim or that he wasn't born in this country. The Democrats have become easy pickings.

Maybe it's time to take the gloves off for a few rounds. As my mom used to tell me about bullies: 'If you're gonna lose, at least go down swinging. That way, they'll think twice about messing with again."