General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Obama: Dems don't get enough credit for willingness to cut Social Security and Medicare [View all]TheKentuckian
(25,026 posts)The most conservative position allowed to be espoused and be an elected official in this party should be maintaining the current design and benefits of these programs, with a heavy preference for expansion.
If we reflexively decimate any on "our" side, it would also have the benefit of cooling the heels of the opposition because they would know any effort to cut, privatize, or end these programs would result in a fight to the death with a bear protecting her cubs, at the bare minimum.
Again, if this is theater then who the hell is the audience and when will the show change since the response sucks?
If it is a tactic then why keep going to the well, considering the results? It isn't softening TeaPubliKlan positions, it isn't making independents think of him as "reasonable" (a few eye and ear fulls of Weird Willard did that), and it does nothing at best and causes harm at worst with his own base.
Hell, more harm is done ceding the frame to the nutters and contributing to a false public narrative willfully pushed by the corporate media than even the most optimistic estimate of potential benefit.
If this is a tactic, then we are well past time to drop it. The "theater" theory starts getting goofy once Simpson-Bowles didn't go because he well exceeded all due diligence already. The TeaPubliKlan sponsors jumped ship on the original binding proposal, I'd have stopped then and just beat them on the head with it from that moment on but he goes a step further and pushes another commission and loaded it up with mostly enemies of the social nets and corporate heads, again more than even handed. I'd also speculate that Pelosi and Reid were counseled not appoint firebrands.
That wasn't enough, the "show" had to go on despite having no positive impact and arguably some negative and he has kept supporting various gangs and has actually passed some austerity via "the trigger" on the last "gang" but has promised to keep trying.
To me that seems a hell of a lot more likely that the pursuit is genuine. The effort of a rouse just doesn't seem to worth the piddling upside (if any).
The tactic is stupid enough at this point having proved worthless on the better days, if true, that it reflects only somewhat better than if the truth is he intends an austerity agenda.