Via Politico:
Obama’s decision to avoid entitlements was instantly deemed as irresponsible. Progressive blogger Andrew Sullivan interpreted the message as “screw you, suckers” to future generations. The usually Obama-friendly Washington Post editorial page pithily described him as “Punter-in-Chief.” Republicans expressed outrage.
But for Hill Democrats — so often at odds with Obama for the past two years — this omission was no sin. It was a gift, in their view, the setting of a political trap for a Republican Party divided between conservatives pushing for major changes to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security and a GOP leadership wary of the political peril of tinkering with Americans’ retirement security.
With Obama refusing to offer his own plan for entitlements, congressional Republicans — as the president noted — rushed in to fill the vacuum.
“I was glad to see yesterday Republican leaders say, ‘How come you didn’t talk about entitlements?’” said Obama at his news conference Tuesday, repeatedly rebuffing reporters’ attempts to get him to offer his own entitlement reforms. “I think that’s progress.”
And, in fact, Republican leaders have ruefully agreed to unveil their own list of “significant, not around-the-edges” reforms, according to a GOP aide.
“They are suckers,” said one senior Democratic congressional aide of the House GOP plans to release the first detailed proposals to reduce entitlement spending. “They have painted themselves into a corner.”The "they" who are called "suckers" by Democrats are the people who take this nation's finances seriously, namely, you.
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I have less confidence in the common sense of the American people since 2008. However, most of us sent a message with our votes on Nov. 2nd: we're broke, and we need to cut spending. Again, most of us - out loud - stated that this would mean cutting entitlements.
ReplyDeleteObama is either clueless, with bad advisors telling him this is the "winning the future" trap that will kill the Republicans and cinch his 2012 win. Or, he just wants to destroy America, and is hoping to make Republicans take the rap.
Will Americans stand by drastic cuts, phasing out Social Security, Medicare, and MedicAid? We'll see.
Haha! The joke is on them! Now our side gets to craft hilarious jokes about slurpee-sipping Obama and the Dems standing on the edge of the debt ditch, looking down on us, calling out, "Hey, you guys need a hand?"
ReplyDeleteFor the radical left everything is about power. Understand that and what Obama is doing or not doing makes perfect sense.
ReplyDelete"But for Hill Democrats — so often at odds with Obama for the past two years — this omission was no sin. It was a gift, in their view, the setting of a political trap for a Republican Party divided between conservatives pushing for major changes to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security and a GOP leadership wary of the political peril of tinkering with Americans’ retirement security."
ReplyDeleteThat is spot on accurate. The problem is with the GOP leadership and party members who are simply not convincing anyone that they are serious about fiscal reform. So long as the party elites continue to knee-cap the Tea Party, the GOP will continue to be seen as the Assistant Democrats who need the cloak of bipartisanship before doing anything. It's that phony cloak that prevented the Dems from ramrodding their programs down our throats even though the GOP had no power to stop them over the last four years.
We have an establishment vs voters problem, not a Dem vs Rep problem.
1. The Democrats, and Big Government Republicans e.g. so-called compassionate conservatives, are like a parasite that expects the host to adapt to its increasing demands. They are like a parasite that reacts with moral indignation when the host protests. Never thinking that they might kill the host. Never thinking that the host's tolerance might have limits.
ReplyDelete2. The "they" who are called "suckers" by Democrats are the people who take this nation's finances seriously, namely, you.
The Democrats are betting that it is political suicide to say that two and two are four. They may be correct. I hope they're not.