Republicans embrace Obama’s offer to trim Social Security benefits

[Faygo Kid]

Source: Washington Post

President Obama’s offer to trim Social Security benefits has perplexed and angered Democrats, but GOP leaders are embracing the proposal and rushing to jump-start a debate that will delve even more deeply into the touchy topic of federal spending on the elderly.

This week, two House subcommittees plan to hold hearings on “reforms to protect and preserve” programs for retirees, starting with Obama’s plan to apply a less generous measure of inflation to annual increases in Social Security benefits.

Also on the table are higher Medicare premiums and reduced benefits for better-off seniors, and a higher Medicare eligibility age.

House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) said he has moved to tamp down criticism of Obama’s proposal from GOP lawmakers in swing districts, such as Rep. Chris Collins (N.Y.), who accused the president of cutting spending “on the backs of our seniors.” And Rep. Greg Walden (Ore.), the chairman of the House Republican campaign arm, called Obama’s plan “a shocking attack on seniors.”. . .

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/republicans-embrace-obamas-offer-to-trim-social-security-benefits/2013/04/15/9de1c594-a448-11e2-9c03-6952ff305f35_story.html?hpid=z4

---

He opened the door. Now the GOP will use him to gut Social Security.

The chained CPI is just the start. Here comes the push to turn Social Security over to the tender mercies of their Wall Street buddies.

[GeorgeGist]

1. Obama was bluffing.

Haven't you heard.

[Tender to the Bone]

4. Sorry, i'm not buying what Obama is selling.

He sold us out.

Obama has touched the third rail, and is just enjoying this at the expense of us.

[rtracey]

123. Sorry wrong

He sold out no one... Social Security needs to be reformulated, and assisted for the seniors of today. Everyone knows that Social Security was originally set-up to "assist" retirees for "a few years" after their working life stopped. In the beginning it was an 18 to 1 pay in...but today its 2-1. In the beginning of SS, recipients lived about 3-5 years after retirement...today some are living 20 years and more....I am a devout democratic liberal, but even I know the way things are going, (and I am 55), that SS is in trouble. To have it for everyone who pays into it, it needs to be restructured...period

[Joe Bacon]

124. Sure

It's more important to let the elderly starve than it is to make the Wall Street Pimps pay their fair share of taxes.

Obama's selling out is disgusting.

[MannyGoldstein]

60. Hey, cool sig!

[Doctor_J]

79. Yeah, and the Repukes are going to call. Here is a picture of this bit of governance

?w=195&h=136

[Life Long Dem]

2. Now they need to embrace tax reform

[emulatorloo]

12. Which will not happen.

[Life Long Dem]

18. Unless they want to hear the uproar from the base

Right before the 2014 election.

[Doctor_J]

80. You think the Repukes' base will be clamoring for tax hikes?

that NOT agreeing to a tax hike will piss them off enough to stay home on polling day?



You're killing me here.

[Life Long Dem]

84. You have it backwards

The base will go nuts when Boehner pushes tax reform onto them to get CCPI.

[DJ13]

3. Ah, they fell for it!

Now He's got them where he wants them!

[RKP5637]

6. Yep, he loss his game of chess ... but it was his strategy ...

[emulatorloo]

20. Wake me up when the Republicans embrace raising taxes.

The game is not over.

We've seen this before, Republicans cannot give up their tax bullshit.

This deal will never get done, but voters will have yet one more demonstration the Repubs are incapable of governing.

[RKP5637]

24. I hope that's the way it goes.

[AverageJoe90]

40. A clever move on the part of the Republicans, perhaps.....

But it's still a long term win-win for us Democrats unless all the cards are played exactly wrong.

The Republicans aren't going to win over many moderates by actually embracing the chained CPI "shiny object" but if they back off, the Teabaggers will jump all over them for giving in to "dat commy sociawist Muswum!!1!one!!one!1!!!!".

[BlueStreak]

66. How do you figure?

The only thing that has happened is that Obama has given the Republicans a big prize without anything in return. He has opened a new round of negotiations with a starting point that is already a big concession and the GOP has given nothing.

They will get this eventually because Obama has said they can have it. It will not be in exchange for end to tax loopholes for the rich or any thing else Obama is talking about. It will probably eventually be traded in return for the GOP releasing one of their many hostages, such as the seats on the NLRB or something like that.

[MannyGoldstein]

61. Damned straight! Remember in December when they REFUSED to raise taxes?

During the Fiscal Cliff nonsense?

I don't remember it neither.

[Drew Richards]

89. Oh Manny please false narratives are beneath you...

You know full well that was not the issue.

[MannyGoldstein]

99. can you expand on what

you think my false narrative is? I'm confused.

Thanks.

[daybranch]

75. Can you imagine

what Clinton will say? look at what Warren has already said? Can you imagine any democrat believing they can let social security be cut and not be primaried? Obama has put a spotlight on the Congress and we will soon see who is who? If republicans support it, they will not be able to go home. If they oppose it, they split their supporters. Dems by and large will reject this ourt of hand. Do you not think it is is really telling that Obama has not jumped on this in his bully pulpit like gun control, immigration, same sex marriage, DADT? Mr. Boehner- ball is thrown to you - you can catch it, pass it away or shoot for a goal or dribble. I forgot, all your moves are blocked by your own team as well as the other.

[Skraxx]

97. Yup, GOP Is In A Lose/Lose Here

Yes, of course they can try to say "Dems want to cut SS!!! Obama proposed it!!!"

But a year and a half from now, no one will remember or care. They will either know that the GOP is CURRENTLY running on cutting SS, OR they've done a 180 and now are running on PROTECTING SS.

Either way, they lose.

If the run on cutting, they own it and will get clobberred.

If they run on protectin it, 1. no one will believe them 2. good luck with their base and money men going with that strategy.

It will be exceedingly difficult to hold their coalition together.

All Dems have to do is stick with their traditional role of protecting SS and clobber the GOP for embracing cuts. If the GOP says they want to protect SS, Dems say "Great! Let's do that!"

[JDPriestly]

102. Yeah! You are pleased.

But Obama has pitted a lot of seniors against his tax plan because Obama's trade for taxes is the security and well-being of seniors.

Are we the sacrificial lambs here?

Is the trade-off worth it for seniors?

No. And I think Obama has lost many of us on this one. Seniors will be voting in 2014. A lot of Obama's young voters will not.

The tax hikes will not happen, but the cuts to Social Security could easily be passed without the tax hikes. Depends on how many seniors vote for the Republican in 2014.

It is not beyond the Republicans to run on no chained CPI and no new taxes and then vote for chained CPI once elected. If they did that, of course, they would come back at Obama with the accusation that Obama suggested the chained CPI so who needs tax hikes.

[DJ13]

112. No, I'm NOT pleased

My post was sarcasm about the N dimensional chess excuse.

[Jamastiene]

103. It is sad but true, it seems.

He's got them right where they want him.

[RKP5637]

5. Soylent Green has to be just around the corner.

Roth takes Soylent's oceanographic reports to a like-minded group of researchers known as the Exchange, who agree that the oceans no longer produce the plankton from which Soylent Green is reputedly made, and conclude it is made from human remains. Unable to live with this discovery, Roth seeks assisted suicide at a government clinic called "Home". Thorn rushes to stop him, but arrives too late, and is mesmerized by the euthanasia process's visual and musical montage— a display of forests, wild animals, rivers, and ocean life, now extinct. Under the influence of a lethal drug, Roth tells Thorn his discovery and begs him to expose the truth. To this end, Thorn stows himself aboard a garbage truck to the disposal-center, where he sees human corpses converted into Soylent Green.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soylent_Green

[delrem]

108. I'm probably overly cynical but the movie ended too soon.

It might have continued after a 2 year time lapse to a world where the people, now knowing the source of Soylent Green and having it explained to them how it's the better of two evils, accept the fact and put it out of mind...

[RKP5637]

110. Yeah ... maybe even a sequel! n/t

[femmocrat]

7. So much for all the "12-dimensional chess" theories.

It gives me no satisfaction that I didn't believe them.

[maindawg]

8. ya, they are all out in the yard

drooling like rabid dogs over this bone. its all part of the just enough rope strategy that big O has used again and again while they always take the bait. They are idiots. They will be screaming from the blown off mountain tops writing 999 worthless bills about it [to go along with 999 worthless anti abortion bills they have already written to no avail].

[OnyxCollie]

9. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

[emulatorloo]

10. Or maybe the DU Doomsday Scenario won't play out

Pretty early in negotiations, not like this shit hasn't crashed and burned before.

For one thing, Boehner cannot control the teabags.

Repubs won't raise taxes, so that'll kill any hope of a deal.

Teabags will block anything and everything, that is what they do.

[Summer Hathaway]

16. The DU Doomsday Scenario rarely plays out.

But that doesn't stop the Now we're all REALLY screwed - and THIS time I mean it! machine from churning out this kind of thing 24/7.

[emulatorloo]

23. Some folks love having their hair on fire, I guess

[Phlem]

30. So

your more of the let's sit around and see if it kill's us type?

You know what they say about predictions, they're like a$$holes, everyone's got one.



-p

[truebluegreen]

36. How unwavering of you. nt

[AverageJoe90]

42. I've seen a lot of this in action, and not just with stuff like this, but in general........

[delrem]

50. It's like a toad in slowly heating water. Haven't you noticed? nt

[cui bono]

101. And why, exactly, do you think the WH backed off of CCPI so quickly?

Because all the apologists were exclaiming how he was playing eleventyth dimentional chess to the fourth power?

You should be more wary of making fun of those who pay attention, warn others and take action.. They are those who helped gain and keep what little the people still have.

[Summer Hathaway]

104. What on earth are you talking about?

The WH "backed off CCPI so quickly"?

There is no 'backing off' at play here. Obama offered a proposal which included chained CPI attached to two conditions the GOP had already said were unacceptable.

The GOP said NO to the proposal (as everyone knew they would), and that was that. End of proposal. End of discussion. That proposal hit the trash can on the day it was tendered, and there it remains.

There is no "backing off" to be done by either side. The proposal was DOA.

If, as many here are claiming, Obama really wanted CCPI, why didn't he offer it without any strings attached?

But please feel free (as I know you will) to continue in your delusion that anyone has "backed off" from something that was already dead-as-a-doornail the same day it was given over to the Republicans.

[cui bono]

105. I'm talking about the fact that there hasn't been a peep about it since the backlash.

Not that he retracted it, as he should. But he knows he can't go out and try to sell it against all the criticism because it was a stupid thing to put in the budget. A huge political blunder that will cause problems for all Dems for some time to come.

[Summer Hathaway]

111. There wouldn't have been a peep about it in any event.

It was a one-off proposal. Obama said, "Here's what I'm offering - wanna discuss it?" The GOP said, "No!"

End of proposal, end of conversation. Why would there be any discussion of something that is already dead and buried, and that the WH KNEW would be dead and buried as soon as the Republicans read it.

As for "this causing problems for all Dems for some time to come", that's utter BS. Most voters don't follow the budget process at all, especially at this point in the proceedings. They're interested in the budget when finalized - and most only to the extent it affects them, i.e. Are my taxes going up? Are my gov't benefits going down?

Political junkies forget that while we might discuss every tiny detail along the way, the average voter doesn't. Ergo, what is seen as a big fuckin' deal on political discussion sites is often not even on most people's radar at all.

There will be lots of political wrangling in the months to come - and when the dust clears, what was in an initial (and totally rejected) proposal won't even be a vague memory.

[cui bono]

118. Oh, I hope you are right. But I'm certain you're not.

Quite certain this was his biggest political blunder to date. Not to mention moral and ethical.

[Summer Hathaway]

120. How about we meet here

a year from now, when the GOP are campaigning for the mid-terms, and we see how many GOPers are even raising the "Obama offered CCPI" discussion?

I predict they won't.

We'll see ...

[delrem]

54. No, the R's will agree to a token tax rise, now they're cutting to the bone.

Remember, *they* haven't even started negotiating yet, maintaining their absolutist position, but *now* the D's have, from their highest ranks, put SS in the cross-hairs, they have exactly what they want. They *want* the negotiation to be about how much to cut into SS etc. They *want* the discussion diverted from, say, going hard against tax loopholes, tax havens, etc., and crazy military spending, and onto SS and so-called "entitlements". And they *want* the discussion to accept that SS, an insurance plan that is *paid for*, should first up in deficit negotiations.

This is, no crap, a Republican dream come true.

[Enrique]

115. it's playing out now with the sequester

another Obama chess move which wasn't supposed to actually ever happen. But it did.

[blkmusclmachine]

11. Who could have predicted this?

EVERYBODY

[emulatorloo]

15. In 2 weeks Boehner will be storming out of the negotiations

Looking at history here.

Teabags will refuse to consider revenue increases.

And that will be the end of that. No DU Social Security Scenario.

Just another demonstration that Republicans are so far right they can't govern.

[merrily]

53. IOW, you are hoping that Boehner saves Democrats and OASDI from Obama?

[emulatorloo]

125. No, I understand that this is a big fake deal

Designed to prove to the US that Republicans are insane.

[merrily]

127. Obama must have been planning this since before his inauguration.

http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2009-01-16/politics/36899872_1_barack-obama-key-economic-priority-items-entitlement-reform

And just about as soon as ACA was on its way, he appointed the Cat Food Commission.

Then, it was on to the Grand Bargain "Super Committee"

Then this. http://www.crewof42.com/news/conyers-on-jobs-weve-had-it-lays-out-obama-calls-for-protest-at-white-house/

Then the sequester.


Very elaborate plan. Cool.

[zeemike]

17. And I predict that is not all they want.

The door is open now...time to raise the retirement age to 70.

[Summer Hathaway]

13. As we all know

if Obama hadn't mentioned chained CPI, the Republicans would NEVER have broached the subject - never, ever, ever!!!

In fact, I can't remember the last time a GOPer even mentioned cutting SS benefits until now!

[MNBrewer]

32. Funny, I can't remember a DEMOCRAT ever mentioning it until now.

[truebluegreen]

39. A True Democrat didn't mention it this time.

One man's opinion. But I only consider FDR Democrats the real thing.

[MNBrewer]

44. HERESY!!!!

[truebluegreen]

46. What can I say?

Been a skeptic my whole life, heresy is not much farther.

[Summer Hathaway]

68. I believe Clinton and Carter

are both DEMOCRATS.

[MNBrewer]

72. What did they propose?

[Drew Richards]

88. Carter yes...but Clinton you gotta be f@@#%@#& kidding me

[truebluegreen]

37. +1000 n/t

[merrily]

57. That is the job of Republicans, their duty to their base. The job of Democrats is to oppose them,

not to come into office planning cuts and put them on the table before Republicans ask for them.

http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2009-01-16/politics/36899872_1_barack-obama-key-economic-priority-items-entitlement-reform

http://www.crewof42.com/news/conyers-on-jobs-weve-had-it-lays-out-obama-calls-for-protest-at-white-house/


BTW, who said Republicans never broached cuts to OASDI before? Isn't that a classic straw man tactic?


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man

[Liberalynn]

91. +10000

[cui bono]

106. You realize that's far worse than him having put it in at the Republican's request?

Which is what he said. So you are saying he's a liar?

[Summer Hathaway]

109. I don't know where this idiocy is coming from, really.

People keep saying "he put it in at the Republican's request".

YES, YES, YES, he did - YES! He has said so; his spokespeople have said so. They have never denied it, or tried to hide it.

The GOP said last year they wanted to see chained CPI in the budget.

So Obama came up with a budget that included CCPI, and said, "There ya go, just what you asked for."

Of course he never told them that CCPI would be included with no strings attached - and the strings attached were things the GOP had already stated they would never accept. Ergo, that proposal was immediately refused by the Republicans; DOA.

Get it now?

[cui bono]

117. Well now you're contradicting yourself. You said no GOP ever mentioned touching SS. n/t

[Summer Hathaway]

121. Where did I say THAT? n/t

[Iliyah]

14. YAWN

And majority of the seniors in my life need SSI and Medicare. Keep bashing . . . lets see how the GOPers comes around in revenue. Yes, Pres O is calling thier bluff and I'm tired of all the negative bullshit.

P.S., prayers for Boston.

[zeemike]

21. Well let's hope it is negative bullshit.

But I fear it is not...and the evidence shows that to me.

[merrily]

59. Are you sure he isn't trying to cut entitlements?

Cause he promised to do that a few days before he first took office.

http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2009-01-16/politics/36899872_1_barack-obama-key-economic-priority-items-entitlement-reform

Then he appointed the Cat Food Commission.

Then came the Super Committee.

http://www.crewof42.com/news/conyers-on-jobs-weve-had-it-lays-out-obama-calls-for-protest-at-white-house/


When the Super Committee could not agree before campaign season, then came the sequester. Then came the election.

And here we are.

[fasttense]

71. Wow, I've never looked at it that way. Obama has been trying to cut SS since 2009.

"January 16, 2009 -President-elect Barack Obama pledged yesterday to shape a new Social Security and Medicare "bargain" with the American people, saying that the nation's long-term economic recovery cannot be attained unless the government finally gets control over its most costly entitlement programs."

Funny how he says 2 different things at different times but continually does one thing - tries to gut our Social Security pensions.

[brooklynite]

19. But-but-but...

...I read here that this was handing the Republicans the perfect campaign message.

I'm confused.

[bowens43]

22. Obama legacy the destruction of SS and Medicare

[jsr]

25. Privatization is the next logical progression.

Obama can be better than Bush!

[wiggs]

52. You know, your post convinces me that this is, ultimately,

brinksmanship by Obama.

Because when you weaken SS benefits, the case for privatization gets stronger. Those who say that SS is a bad investment for future retirees can crow about how much better it would be if you could choose your retirement investment vehicles. Chained CPI results in lower benefits. Chained CPI strengthens the case for privatization.

I don't believe for a minute that Obama wants privatization and I don't believe he would ease the path for those who do want it. So...I'm going with the assumption that Obama knows that chained cpi won't pass and that he can say "I just put it out there because the republicans claim that trimming SS is all important. I didn't want it, they did."

[merrily]

65. There are at least ten ways not to weaken OASDI without CCPI.

Raising or eliminating the cap and/or repaying the trillion that was stolen from the trust fund to pay for wars without raising taxes might be the top two, but there are others that are more nuanced. So, please don't frame the issue as though the only choice is between privatization and cuts. It's simply not true.

Anyway, Obama's payroll holidays weakened OASDI plenty.

[cui bono]

107. Honestly, how does that make any sense?

Who proposes things they don't really want in their own budget? The very thing that is supposed to represent what he wants and proposes?

Really, that's just making excuses for him. He's been mentioning cuts to SS for a long time now. He's done it a lot.

[cstanleytech]

26. Maybe its the start of CPI or maybe its the start of the republicans being stupid and

grabbing onto that 3rd rail with their greedy little hands without thinking? After all if you think about it thats what the republicans will in essence be doing if they pursue this futile course of action as there is no way in hell I see the dems supporting it and for Obama its not a risk for him to set the republicans this way since he cant run for a 3rd term anyway.

[AverageJoe90]

43. Obama's been pretty good at brinkmanship......n/t

[forestpath]

27. ..as the unwavering apologists frantically search for a new meme.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2675866

[bhikkhu]

28. Obama's proposal came with non-negotiable attachments

...such as, a provision that would more than offset the amount of the cuts for those who relied on SS as their primary income. And raising taxes on the wealthy, income and capital gains. The package would, on the whole, take nothing from people who need it most, and it would be the best budget we've seen toward reducing our income inequality problem.

Of course, there's not much talk of that, as it has little to no chance of getting far in debate; it was just a starting point. People who think Obama is a lousy negotiator will just assume that he will get nothing he asks for, and give the other side everything - that's the way these conversations always seem to play out here, but it never has happened.

[MNBrewer]

31. Non-negotiable AND just a starting point?

[bhikkhu]

34. As in, if you want chained CPI, that's the price

preserving the incomes of those that rely on social security for their primary income, and tax measures targeting income inequality specifically. And exempting "means tested programs".

If you read the white house policy releases it has been laid out pretty clear and simple from the beginning. As it was (apparently now we know) back in the budget negotiations when it first came up with Boehner something over a year ago.

[MNBrewer]

38. I don't recall "non-negotiable" being mentioned about anything

[merrily]

67. No, CCPI is not inevitable and it does not preserve the income OASDI recipients.

[merrily]

62. Non-negotiable. Yeah, first, best and last offer that always works with a co-equal

branch of government.

such as, a provision that would more than offset the amount of the cuts for those who relied on SS as their primary income.

So, you're saying that, net, he is actually increasing OASDI, but that has simply escaped people like Howard Dean? Great. Do you have a link to something that describes this offset?

such as, a provision that would more than offset the amount of the cuts for those who relied on SS as their primary income.

Not by a significant amount.

Finally, you don't get to sell this on the ground that it's non-negotiable and a starting point that Obama will manage with his superior negotiating skills.

BTW, I agree with you. His negotiating skills are good. That is why I get impatient with people who say he caved.

[muriel_volestrangler]

69. Can you link to the description of that offset, please?

I've heard it talked about on DU, but nowhere else. There is a provision which puts something extra into the SS payments of those between 76 and 85, which doesn't fully offset the loss due to chained CPI, but I've seen nothing in what the White House has said about "those who relied on SS as their primary income".

[Liberalynn]

95. Me neither

And the protection for the disabled only mentions those on SSI not those of us who depend on SSD.

[treestar]

74. Didn't you know this budget has only one line in it?

[MNBrewer]

29. “It’s too bad it’s in the budget,” Pelosi said.

If only those awful AWFUL Republicans hadn't put it there....

wait.

WHUT?

[Phlem]

35. No, No, No...

It's the Dem's fault for not holding his feet to the fire and we're compounding it now by complaining about it because we just don't see WTF the mysterious skill set "O" is using for his negotiations.

Really! It's not what it seems!

You know maybe I should have been wearing glasses for the last 30 years, maybe all the historical evidence I've witnessed was all wrong. Or maybe I've been wearing the wrong set of shades the hole time cause I'm not understanding all the lies that are politics and the audience that eats it up.



FFS

-p

[merrily]

64. She also said that changes to the COLA were not cuts. Not as though she knows better

and is lying. She's just an inexperienced babe in the woods who thinks that the President's budget has to pass as is.

[daybranch]

33. what happens

when the Senate starts debating and many point out this is not an entitlement but a return of taxpayers moneys. I believe Bernie should ask to start the debate now. I want to see republicans explain how they are willing to rob the 98 percent of funds they have contributed already in order to save tax dollars for the 2 percent. Good luck with that one. I can imagine Warren.

[dhpgetsit]

41. DeFazio on Chained CPI

He tells it like it is.

[JEB]

56. Good job DeFazio.

That should be on all the TVs, but probably won't.

[MannyGoldstein]

63. Awesome!

Everyone on DU should see this!

[Doctor_J]

78. We don't want the apologists' bubble to burst

they're so happy in there.

[Tom Rinaldo]

81. Brilliant

Cut benefits for everyone and extend solvency of Social Security by 2 years. Raise income cap and extend it by 50 instead. Tough choice. Which one does Obama support again?

[cantbeserious]

45. When The Floodgates Open ...

eom

[Blue Owl]

47. News flash -- GOP loves this pile of shit

[cliffordu]

48. I think yours is a bogus posit.

All the fish in Washington (again) line up to grab the bait.


NONE OF THIS WILL EVER GET THROUGH THE SENATE.

NONE OF IT.

Do you think Barack Hussein Obama didn't know this???

HOW FUCKING STUPID DO YOU THINK HE IS?



But the Repubs are getting in line to endorse killing grandma.

How many Dems are 'on board'??

Obama needs never worry about getting elected again. He will (almost) fall on this sword to prove the Repubs as the callow, selfish, intractable shitheads that they are.

McConnell and Boner are going to be the ones to pay for this.

This ain't chess, checkers or any of the cute accusations some here need to make.

Politics, plain and simple.

And in Politics, you have to know that if you get what you demand, it MIGHT not be what you want.

It might not be what you want, anywhere near you.

Boner already said the cuts weren't enough.....

Game set match...


YMMV.....

[delrem]

49. The R's will go for a token tax raise in exchange for this. It's worth it for them. Full stop.

[JEB]

51. Why don't those embracing chained CPI

just send their SS checks back? I can see all the rich Republicans lined up at the Post Office trying to send back their checks.

[Liberalynn]

96. Third Way Democrats should join them in that line

[JEB]

113. Third way Democrats

are Republicans.

[Fuddnik]

55. So much for 12 dimensional checkers.

As much as the Republicans keep trying to self immolate, Democrats rush in with the fire hoses, then torch themselves.

[fascisthunter]

58. Hahahaha... Yes, the republicans support Obama's Offer... we know.

... they include "Third-Way" democrats... infiltrating our party and DU itself.

[jakeXT]

70. So where is the Lewinsky of our times to save SS ?

http://www.counterpunch.org/2004/10/30/how-monica-lewinsky-saved-social-security/

[Myrina]

85. Even if there was one, the GOP wouldn't

Move to investigate or impeach ... POTUS is giving them everything they want.

[dreamnightwind]

90. Thanks I had never seen that article

It's an excellent read. Some choice cuts:

http://www.counterpunch.org/2004/10/30/how-monica-lewinsky-saved-social-security/

Participants at the Harvard conference conceded that severe technical problems beset efforts to introduce commercial practices. The existing program has low administration costs whereas running tens of millions of small investment accounts would be expensive. The secret White House team sought to finesse the problem by pooling individual funds and stripping down the element of choice or customer service. But Summers was unhappy: as one Team member now recalls it, "Deputy Secretary Summers was fond of saying that we had to guard against the risk of setting up the Post Office when people were used to dealing with Federal Express". And pooled funds were also to be avoided because they would risk government control of business.

...

Clinton was so desperate for an approach that would prove popular that he was even prepared to disappoint Wall Street.

...

Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan was willing to see the budget surplus pledged to Social Security but he denounced the plan to invest the trust fund in equities on the grounds that it would lead to government interference in business. A writer in the New York Times, January 25, 1999, warned that if the trust fund was allowed to invest in stocks and shares it would be impossible to prevent the politicization of investment: "The danger is that Congress will meddle, for example, steering funds into environmentally-friendly companies rather than, say, tobacco companies."

[JoePhilly]

73. But I thought the GOP were going to reject it and run on saving SS in 2014.

I mean, that's been the prediction here on DU for the last 2 weeks.

The outraged on DU screamed that Obama's mistake was that he handed the GOP the ability to act as defenders of Social Security.

Now, the GOP does the opposite, and the outrage machine doesn't blink an eye.

[Skraxx]

92. Indeed, NOW The GOP is Going to "Use' Obama to Gut SS! IOW, Obama is Just Too Stupid, Too Naive and

So easily manipulated that the GOP is going to "use" him.

IOW, this was all some 11th dimensional chess by the GOP...Somehow.

So, only the GOP is capable of playing 11th dimensional chess, apparently.

Obama's too stupid, I guess to understand politics. At least according to some people.

[JoePhilly]

94. Not only that ...

based on some of the screaming, one might think Obama had already cut SS about 6 times since taking office.

[bemildred]

76. Awesome, they are going to go there. nt

[Doctor_J]

77. Win-win for Boner

Either they get their SS cut, or they get to "save the elderly" and bash Obama with his proposal.

Disgrace. Best case Obama is a naive, stupid loser. Worst case he is a repuke.

[yurbud]

82. and today Obama proposes privatizing the TVA, another New Deal landmark

WASHINGTON -- In a political role reversal, Republicans are blasting President Barack Obama's plan to consider selling the Tennessee Valley Authority, an icon of the New Deal long targeted by conservatives as an example of government overreach.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/16/obama-tva_n_3090958.html

It's almost like a bad joke.

Obama is becoming a caricature of a DLC sell out.

[blackspade]

83. This is not good.

[HomeboyHombre]

86. When Obama's idea of a tax break was a Soc Sec. tax "holiday,"

the writing was plain to see.

It's time to march on Washington and tell this Democratic President what Democrats believe.

[progressoid]

87. Relax, it's just the next move on this global thermonuclear chess game.

[Skittles]

93. STOP IT PROGRESSOID

[diabeticman]

98. OF COURSE right on schedule! GOP grips and complains BUT behind they scenes they

where jumping for joy and popping the champaign bottles at Obama's budget.

[JDPriestly]

100. Obama was not bluffing.

Remember when he cut the payroll taxes so that working people paid less into the system. Remember when he brought the taxes back.

Relatively few complained when they came back, and the complaints were not that serious because every working person knows that when push comes to shove, when Wall Street goes broke (as it regularly does) and steals all the small investors money, Social Security is still there, will still be there, and is needed more than ever.

So, the chained CPI was not Obama's first attack on Social Security. I disagree with those who are optimistic about Obama on this.

Obama has drunk the kool-aid on austerity. That is, he wants austerity for seniors, but certainly not for himself. His voluntary 5% pay cut will not hurt him ever, and he knows it. He doesn't have to pay for Air Force 1 or the limos or the Secret Service guards out of his salary. Those are freebees on the taxpayers.

I don't begrudge Obama Air Force 1 or the Secret Service guards or even his cooks and free food. But I wish that he would not begrudge me the Social Security benefits that I worked for, that I paid for and that I need so that I can drive my old clunker car and eat and have a roof over my head.

Obama does not like Social Security. Just like Bush before him, he is attacking it full face. And this is not the first attempt by the Obama administration to weaken Social Security as we know it.

If Social Security is in enough trouble to bring in the chained CPI, why did Obama cut back the payroll tax a couple of years ago? That made no sense then and makes no sense now unless he wanted to do some damage to the system.

[santamargarita]

114. Bluffing and it's bullshit. Stop listing to propaganda.

[Skittles]

116. no one here is LISTING

[libdude]

119. Obama's legacy?

I have read many postings which talk about President Obama's legacy and how this offerring up of Social Security for cutting will mark the start or the dismanteling of this program and it will be a Democrat that did it.
Sad day for many that placed their confidence in him.
Live in hope, die in despair - was that the hope he was really speaking of?
Change - who saw that one coming?
He should have never placed it on the table as a bargaining issue, bargaining away something so critical to the lives of many.
Pethaps Obama was right when he described himself as a " moderate Republican " of the 1980s style, Really?
To me, when I think of a Democrat, I think of someone like Sen. Sharrod Brown or Rep. Kieth Ellison. Of course there is Sen. Bernie Sanders.

[drm604]

122. Whatever Obama's intentions were with this

does anyone believe that the Democratic majority Senate will pass it?