WASHINGTON – Shooting for another accomplishment, Pres. Obama expects his “broader deal” bravery to impress Independents, while pundits and elites nod seriously saying, “It had to be done.” Meanwhile, the House Progressive Caucus is sending Obama another message: no, we won’t.
As you know by now, Lori Montgomery’s reporting broke big news today:
As part of his pitch, Obama is proposing significant reductions in Medicare spending and for the first time is offering to tackle the rising cost of Social Security, according to people in both parties with knowledge of the proposal. The move marks a major shift for the White House and could present a direct challenge to Democratic lawmakers who have vowed to protect health and retirement benefits from the assault on government spending.
“Obviously, there will be some Democrats who don’t believe we need to do entitlement reform. But there seems to be some hunger to do something of some significance,” said a Democratic official familiar with the administration’s thinking. “These moments come along at most once a decade. And it would be a real mistake if we let it pass us by.”
Another instrument of Obamanomics that will bring a fundamental shift away from Democratic Party principles and philosophy that can never be recovered once gone.
No one can say I didn’t warn people, going back to 2007, with this tease offered recently to get the uninitiated prepared.
“With Social Security, it’s just a matter of tweaking how it currently works.” – Pres. Obama
Ah, yes, tweaking… er, I mean, “strengthening” Social Security. You can almost here the applause, followed by utterances of “Pres. Obama’s so moderate.”
Confirmation from the New York Times:
The president’s renewed efforts follow what knowledgeable officials said was an overture from Mr. Boehner, who met secretly with Mr. Obama last weekend, to consider as much as $1 trillion in unspecified new revenues as part of an overhaul of tax laws in exchange for an agreement that made substantial spending cuts, including in such social programs as Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security — programs that had been off the table.
Pres. Obama’s rightward shift has set up a situation that allows him a chance to play for history. If he succeeds, with Social Security becoming part of the debt ceiling deal, can’t you already imagine Pres. Obama being hailed for doing it? The traditional media will fall over themselves to praise his seriousness.
In November 2008, the conservatives were gasping for air. Pres. Obama has become the wind beneath their wings.
As for the New Deal Democratic Party, say goodnight, Gracie.
Unless, of course, Republicans don’t know what a gift Pres. Obama is offering. Wouldn’t it be something if these numbskulls didn’t take it?
I’m rooting for stupid, because if the Bush tax cuts were allowed to expire, with millionaires and billionaires taxed at a special rate, adding an accelerated withdrawal from Afghanistan, but also Iraq, with more cuts coming from the Pentagon (compliments of former OMB man SecDef Panetta), there’s no need to put “entitlements on the table.”
Taylor Marsh is a Washington based political analyst, writer and commentator on national politics, foreign policy, and women in power. A veteran national politics writer, Taylor’s been writing on the web since 1996. She has reported from the White House, been profiled in the Washington Post, The New Republic, and has been seen on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, CNN, MSNBC, Al Jazeera English and Al Jazeera Arabic, as well as on radio across the dial and on satellite, including the BBC. Marsh lives in the Washington, D.C. area. This column is cross posted from her blog.
screen capture via Huffington Post