The Nation: Obama Backs Off Social Security, Medicare Reform

[cbayer]

http://www.thenation.com/article/163429/obama-backs-social-security-medicare-reform

William Greider September 15, 2011

The word is out in Washington. When the president announces his deficit-reduction proposals next week, he will definitely not suggest any hit on Social Security nor any increase in the eligibility age for Medicare. That's a small victory for reason and social equity. We can thank the voters of Brooklyn's Ninth Congressional District who this week elected a Republican representative for the first time in nearly 90 years.

Entertainment Jimmy Carter Major Medicare President Representative Washington White House
The White House spin claims this off defeat has nothing to do with Barack Obama, but that's tripe. Working politicians know better. The Brooklyn special election was an ominous rebuke to the president, suggesting he may be heading into Jimmy Carter territory. Despite official denials, Obama may be getting the message. At least the White House leakers were busy spreading the word to major media that Obama has dropped any intention of of whacking Social Security or Medicare eligibility in order to entice Republicans into some sort of grand compromise.

Congressional Democrats have felt a stabbing pain in the back whenever the president talked about "entitlement reform." The Dems hope to run against the Republicans next year on those very issues—defending the great liberal social programs against cut-throat Republicans. Obama was threatening to throw away their best cards. They don't have many others, given the stalled economy, flirting with recession. The president's new job-creating plan is thin gruel. Even if Republicans allowed the legislation to pass (which they won't), it won't do much to stop the bleeding. Most Democrats pretend to be thrilled anyway. Privately, they have a scary, sinking feeling.

Life is unfair, so is politics. What happened to Jimmy Carter in the spring of 1980 was that fellow many Democrats concluded his presidency was doomed and so they concentrated on personal survival. Many ran campaigns that emphasized their own accomplishments and never mentioned his name. Others actively ran against their own incumbent president (with limited results). Carter's people kept saying, not to worry—the people will never elect a right-wing kook like Ronald Reagan as their president. The rest is history, as they say.

more at link

[Major Hogwash]

1. I suppose this means that we have to pull President Obama out from under his own bus now, huh?

Damn! I can't believe he outsmarted the haters again! Damn!

[eridani]

6. Nope. Not until the SuperCongress concludes that there should not be cuts n/t

[Major Hogwash]

10. You're wrong.

[Mimosa]

12. Don't waste your time defending Obama against his supporters, past and present

Obama will get beaten IF your type doesn't reach the swing vooters who don't see Obama's admin hasn't done much to help the vulnerable, hanging on barely middle class.

[Major Hogwash]

14. Hahahaha!!! You made my day!!

I AM one of President Obama's biggest supporters!!

[markpkessinger]

20. The really sad thing in all this is ...

... that if the President were to wake up tomorrow, and had a political determination been made that cutting or "reforming" SS and Medicare were suddenly not politically toxic (or were less so), or if he thought those cuts wouild help him score voteshe would revert right back to his prior strategy without a moment's hesitation. Increasingly, I'm coming round to the belief that the President's only real core commitment is to doing whatever he thinks will win him the next election. I see no commitment to any particular philosophy of governance, nor any clear vision concerning the government's proper role vis-a-vis the economy. So while I am glad he's decided to back off cutting these programs,in the long run I'm not sure an abrupt change of direction will help him much politically. AT this point, abrupt changes in direction only reinforce the perception that he's flailing.

[Me.]

2. 'Bout Damn Time He & Those Brainiacs In The WH Started Getting The Message

[Vincardog]

3. The question is "Will BO get the message that he needs to LEAD like a democrat or will he just

campaign as one?"

[vaberella]

4. I was looking towards for reform---well the way he had put it. Medicare/Medicaid and so on need it.

n/t

[cbayer]

5. Agree. I think the title is misleading as they seem to be talking only about the issue

of raising the age limit for Medicare.

Anyway, there is already a lot of reform underway and I strongly suspect that it will continue.

:hi:

[vaberella]

8. Yeah. I read on the site that Biden is working on some Medicare reform initiatives.

I hope we get up to date on some of these reforms. I don't get some of the posters here. You'd think they'd see positives in reform. Obama never said in his reform plan of destroying or eliminating medicare/medicaid. But actually making the programs better, more efficient, less wasteful. I can't see why people aren't advocating some of these changes. Not to mention---I'm really not so against raising the medicare age to 67. I prefer 65, but I don't see 67 that horrible a step.

[CTyankee]

13. Supposedly, that plan to raise the medicare age would take place in 2065.

Plenty of time for medical science to discover how to stop the aging process if not reverse it so that 67 would be what 27 is today. Miracles can happen!

[Major Hogwash]

15. The last year of the Baby Boomer Generation was 1965, and they start to retire in 2032.

We have known since 2004 that Medicare was in deep financial trouble since medical costs were skyrocketing.
What we will do by 2030, at least by that time if not sooner, is eliminate private healthcare insurance altogether, and that way ALL people will be covered by a national healthcare plan based on the Medicare model.

Without healthcare insurance companies ripping people off, acting as middlemen, we will eliminate the middlemen, eventually.
And then healthcare costs will come down and stabilize as a result because we are no longer paying for healthcare insurance to companies that are only concerned about their humongous profit margins.

[markpkessinger]

18. Actually, Baby Boomers have already started to retire . . .

The Baby Boom covers folks born from 1946-1964 or '65, which means early retirements (i.e., at 62) started three years ago. By 2032, the youngest of the baby boomers will be 67. Assuming a life expectancy of 80 years, the oldest boomers will begin dying off around 2026 (although new boomers will continue to hit retirement age until 2030. So we are now at the beginning of the baby boom retiree hump, which will continue until about 2045 (80 years of age for the youngest of the boomers), more or less. The major draw down on the Trust has already begun, as the size of the workforce declines and the number of retirees goes steadily upwards. The Social Security Trustees have said that Social Security can fully fund its obligations through 1937 (at a level of 100%), and at a level of 75% thereafter. So we really need to begin NOW whatever additional funding that will be necessary to continue beyond 1937 at a 100% level.

[dennis4868]

7. I'm mad....

these programs need reform.

[sudopod]

9. lol nt

[cbayer]

17. They are being actively reformed as we speak. Dr. Don Berwick (my personal hero)

is all about reform. He has a deep seated belief that the US medical system is seriously flawed and has instituted major overhauls within the system already.

I think that what he is doing is reforming medicare/medicaid from within so that they will be ready to serve as the single payer system.

One huge issue is that the republicans want desperately to remove him from his position and we need to do whatever we can to stop that.

:hi:

[tcaudilllg]

11. Firing the fmr CEO of GE would be a great way to say he's sorry.

[Major Hogwash]

16. That has nothing to do with it at all.

Seriously, President Obama asked for help from people who had experience solving financial problems, of the type he was facing when he took office, so he didn't hire any bloggers who were sitting at home in their underwear pounding on their keyboards.

[TheKentuckian]

19. No one he hired had any more such experience than the most Cheeto stained blogger

The people he hired did have a lot of experience creating financial meltdowns but those skills seem to have very little cross over value to solving anything and have largely continued to do what got us here.

[Imagevision]

21. Obama to use device to not allow cost of living index to seniors SS.