Bulls seem OK with Obama tax plan

Former Bulls center Tyson Chandler blogged last month about a chance encounter with presidential candidate Barack Obama.
Chandler's New Orleans Hornets were in Indianapolis for a preseason game and an Obama rally was being held across the street from their practice site. So he and a few teammates checked it out.
A large number of NBA players seem to be in Obama's corner, but one of the Illinois senator's most repeated promises is to raise taxes for the richest Americans, those who make more than $250,000 per year. The subject came up at the Indiana rally.
“He says, 'If you make under $250,000 a year, raise your hand,'” Chandler wrote. “And everybody there raised their hand, except for this one small section of guys. That was our section.”
True, if any group of people fits into the description “wealthiest Americans,” it's NBA players. Not all of them are set for life 10 times over, but the league's minimum salary this year is $442,000.
There was strong support for Obama inside the Bulls' locker room in the days leading up to the election and not one of the players questioned expressed any fear of his tax policy.
“I'm going to vote for him,” Ben Gordon said. “I think he represents change. ... If the rich just keep getting richer and the poor keep getting poorer and the economy isn't doing well because of that, I don't think that helps.”
Added Drew Gooden, “If that's going to make it a better world _ from paying 48 (percent tax rate) to 51 or 54 _ it ain't going to hurt us that much. If it's going to help the world, we're ready to do it.”
Derrick Rose ran across Obama at a Bud Billiken Day parade a few years back and plans to support his fellow South Side resident.
Joakim Noah said he became an Obama fan after watching his 2004 speech at the Democratic convention. Like Obama and teammate Thabo Sefolosha, Noah comes from a biracial family.
“It just shows how far America has come, to have somebody who's that close to being president, someone who's black and white, and somebody who's open to a lot of difference,” Noah said. “Even though personally, yeah, I will probably will lose a lot of money, I feel like as people who are lucky to be in this situation, it's important for us to put things into perspective a little and understand that there are people who need tax cuts more than we do.
“Regardless of who we vote for, I don't think it's going to change our quality of life too much. All it changes is a couple extra dollars in the bank account.”
Second-year center Aaron Gray and veteran forward Michael Ruffin are on the lower end of the NBA's pay scale. But they, too, expected to vote for Obama. Ruffin said he used to support Republican opponent John McCain.
“I consider myself an independent, so I pay attention to both candidates,” Ruffin said. “Actually, in 2000 I liked McCain. To me, it just seems like we could use a different type of leadership, different type of policies, especially being more open to working with our allies and things like that. Those are more of the things that have affected my decision. I'm definitely leaning toward Obama, but I try to stay open-minded.”
Said Gray, “It's funny because this is the first political race I've really tried to learn more about. Our careers aren't as long as most people, so we want to collect as much money as possible. But we are one of the top (income) brackets in America. I kind of feel like this is America, we need to help out people that are less fortunate. Even though it might be a little more money out of my pocket, if it can help other people, that's a good thing.”
This is the third presidential election since Ruffin joined the league in 1999 and he believes this year's campaign captured the attention of his teammates much more than the previous two.
“I've heard people talk about it and be really interested in watching the debates, which is good,” he said. “This is a young team and you've got young players paying attention. To me, it's best if you hear form the candidates themselves instead of listening to the different channels and different stations analyzing everything. It's good to watch the debates, listen and get a feel for each person and their character and who they are.”
The Bulls were away from home on Election Day, practicing Tuesday morning in Orlando, then flying to Cleveland for tonight's game against the Cavaliers. Many of the players had already requested absentee ballots in their home states.