How many times has our President been on the teetering verge of "gutting" Social Security now?

[snooper2]

Is it 3 or 4?

[a geek named Bob]

1. I thought it was 6... n/t

[Bonobo]

2. Is damage done by worrying about it? No. Is damage done by NOT? Yes. nt

[jberryhill]

4. Worrying about it, and turning off voters to 2014 are two different things

If your notion of worrying about it includes a healthy dose of such things as:

"There's no difference among any politicians"

"I give up on voting"

Then, yeah, that's doing damage. And one would have to be absolutely blind not to believe that there are people who favor a Republican majority who are here to do precisely that.

[Bonobo]

6. OMG, you are ALREADY using the "an election is coming" ploy!?

[jberryhill]

10. Oh, I see, it's not okay to be concerned about something

Calling an honest expression of another's opinion a "ploy" is not only insulting, but arrogant. Par for the course for you, though.

[Bonobo]

16. Ploy, excuse, strategem, rationale, defense, justification, pretext, alibi.

You choose. It's all the same.

You dodged my statement and are justifying telling people not to freely state their opinions for fear of having a political effect.

This was done before the election for months and you are already taking up the same song.

It is... sickening and laughable in equal measures.

[jberryhill]

17. I am sorry you were so disappointed with the outcome of the election

It is unfortunate that you choose to take it out on others.

[Bonobo]

19. That was below even you. nt

[HereSince1628]

3. But can't that be seen as prepping us for the big event?

He's got tremendous personal compassion, but everyone also says he's cool and calculating
and able to not let any of that interfere with him doing his job.

[ananda]

7. The tribal phenomenon.

People who are tribal are very good, personable, friendly, and often charming .. to people in their tribe. They can look good and put a good face on things. In this country, there is a strong trend toward affluence and corporate tribalism, mostly stemming from racism or internalized racism. Obama has it, and he has a lot of enablers.

The poor, the unions, the working classes, and the public commons are all at risk because of affluence and corporate tribalism, those rich and corporate who take care of themselves and their own but have some sort of mindset that the poor, the working class, and those who work in the public commons can be sacrificed for the greater good of the rich.

[HereSince1628]

11. Can't say. I do think he yearns to have a legacy as a non-partisan

problem solver.

I sometimes wonder if he doesn't find some sense of justification for his positions when he hears the democratic base scream in protest.

[kenny blankenship]

21. So now the Democratic base is to blame for what he does ?

He betrays them - but they asked for it, right? He wouldn't feel justified in betraying the people to whom he owes his office, were it not for all their screams of protest. Then it's like he has to do it.

"I didn't want to hit her because, like, that's bad. But she made me do it with her all whining and crying. She should blame herself if she just has to blame somebody. She cringes and whimpers now every time I raise my hand in the air - how do you not hit someone who acts like that?"

Sounds like a real nice guy.

The only solution that Obama represents is how can the very rich, faced with a declining Republican Party, get the Democrats to undo their own greatest achievements and to continue Republican policies when power is out of reach for the GOP. Obama is the Reagan Revolution continued by other means. "Get one of their own to betray them from the inside."

[WCLinolVir]

5. Get BUSY people.

Pelosi's phone is ringing off the hook, can't leave a message. I sent email to every top dem. CRASH the call boards. We will not have this guy lying to us. I worked on his campaign and I am not going to let this bs pass.

[WI_DEM]

8. Never, I don't think he has ever advocated 'gutting' social security.

[Autumn]

9. He can take care of that real easy. All he has to do is say is SS is not

on the table for the talks. Instead he continues to allow it to be on the table. So if people get pissed about that, well that's his fault. That's a cruel game he is playing. A lot of people live on SS and nothing else.

[snooper2]

12. I wish he would bring that up to be honest..education in personal finance..

Our country is lacking in it...

[Autumn]

14. I wonder if people who live on SS only are people who

are of a time before the 401(k) really became something. I really only remember them popping up in the 80s. And it wasn't till the 90s I got a job that even offered them.

[TexasProgresive]

13. Not on a par with how many times he was supposed to confiscate the guns. n/t

[snooper2]

15. I thought guns were a weekend thing and him destroying the social safety net was for weekdays?

[TexasProgresive]

18. +1

[woo me with science]

20. And people are sick and tired of being jerked around.

This cynical corporate hostage game
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022026685

[forestpath]

22. +1 times a zillion!

[Sheepshank]

23. Really? He has teetered, or rabid false pseudo-reporting says he's been teetering?

It appears to me that the rhetoric running rampant on the web and often here at DU, reflects a bunch of non-fact based assumptions, fairy tales, and a personal need for some to feel psychic.

[byronius]

24. I heard he's an Orc. Or was it a Balrog?

Run you fools!