Obama stood firm when pressed to back away from benefit cuts

[jsr]

FDR, MLK, JFK would be so proud.

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/287695-senate-democrats-pepper-obama-on-entitlement-reform

Senate Democrats pepper Obama with questions about entitlement reform
By Alexander Bolton and Justin Sink - 03/12/13 08:28 PM ET

President Obama launched his Capitol Hill outreach effort Tuesday with an attempt to ease Senate Democrats’ concerns about his willingness to negotiate entitlement reform with Republicans.

But Obama stood firm when pressed to back away from benefit cuts during the meeting with the Senate Democratic caucus, according to lawmakers who attended.

Democrats emerged from the Senate’s Mike Mansfield Room publicly declaring party unity. But behind closed doors, liberals in the Senate caucus raised reservations about Obama’s readiness to consider cuts to Social Security benefits and his support for a deficit-reduction package evenly split between spending cuts and tax increases.

Obama did not back down from a proposal to switch to the chained consumer price index formula for calculating Social Security benefits, according to lawmakers.

[villager]

1. Oh, so *now* he stands firm.

Shit.

[Lionessa]

3. +1 I'd be ROFL if it wasn't all so serious and sad.

[MotherPetrie]

4. Ain't it the truth!

[TheProgressive]

20. Looks like we know Obama's values - they are the ones he stand firm on...

Well said villager.

[WillyT]

28. + 1,000,000,000 What You Said !!! - K & R !!!

[kenny blankenship]

29. He also stood firm when it was time

to bait with the Public Option and then switch it to Individual Mandate.

[sabrina 1]

37. That can't be. We are told that the President cannot influence anything, that he has

no power over what others decide. :eyes

[Lionessa]

2. I guess the elderly better start stretching and getting my limber,

with a "friend" like Obama in the WH it'll just be a short while before they're all expected to bend over and grab their ankles for the shafting they're about to get.

[forestpath]

5. THAT'S who he stands up against...the old and sick. Being

President certainly has revealed who - and what - Obama is, all right.

[progressoid]

6. “The truth of the matter is...I would be considered a moderate Republican.”

“The truth of the matter is that my policies are so mainstream that if I had set the same policies that I had back in the 1980s, I would be considered a moderate Republican.”

[EOTE]

26. In the 80s, most moderate republicans wouldn't think of touching social security.

Hell, most REGULAR republicans wouldn't think of touching it then.

[Go Vols]

32. .

[kelliekat44]

7. Obama is dealing with the facts and the knowledge of the people he has to deal with.

Reform does not mean "take away." Let's just see what is going to transpire over the next several weeks. He just simply is not going to do EVERYTHING we want him to do...nor can he. Get real.

[TheKentuckian]

9. Get real, it doesn't take a magic wand to refrain from pursuing cuts to Social Security

If that is all he can do other than right wing education deform, assaulting civil liberties, enriching and empowering corporations, and ramping up the drug war then he can do jack apple shit.

Pardon turkeys, host Easter egg hunts, turn on the Christmas trees, and attend a summit or a funeral if the game is to be Jim Baker.

[tkmorris]

16. You're...you're serious aren't you?

That is just about the saddest thing I've ever heard.

[Egalitarian Thug]

17. Since when?

Welfare "reform". Take away people's benefits and push single parents into the minimum wage workforce.

Financial "reform". Take away regulations that protected people from a predatory industry.

Bankruptcy "reform". Take away people's ability to escape crushing debt and usurious interest.

Need I go on?

[okieinpain]

21. lol. should the government do

everything.

[Egalitarian Thug]

23. No, just its job. n/t

[okieinpain]

24. I think its covered most of that list.

[magical thyme]

30. "reform" does not mean "take away." But "chained CPI" does.

As long as he referred to "reforms" I was willing to give the benefit of the doubt. Now we know he intends to cut benefits. Now I am pissed.

[sabrina 1]

40. And here it is, the request to 'let's just wait and see' once again when it comes

to a Democrat preparing to attack SS. But if it was a Republican, in fact when it was a Republican in 2005, there were no such requests to 'wait and see'.

My response to your request is simply, 'no'. We will not wait and see, wait until it's too late. Airc, we were asked to wait and see about the PO, we were told he was jusp playing chess etc, and meantime the left was split. Turns out that those of us who were not on board with the 'chess game' excuses were correct. He really did dump the PO.

So please forgive us if will no longer wait until it's too late to help the most vulnerable citizens.

And I doubt this request is going to get much traction anymore with Democrats.

IF he touches SS, he is no Democrat, period. He will be the first Democrat to do so and will have revealed that he does not represent the Party we belong to.

Let's hope he does not do it. Meantime all Democrats need to unite against even the possibility of any cuts, which is what the Chained CPI is, to SS.

[Shanti Mama]

8. Possibility? He's acting like a compromiser so Congress can actually pass a bill?

Obama doesn't write the laws. Someone does need to make nice with the enemy. Is he doing the dirty work, being the good cop so that the House and Senate can be the bad cops and make it all happen?
I know, I'm naive. Yes, he is moderate. But I don't believe he wants decreases in "entitlements." I just don't.

[magical thyme]

33. I don't see the enemy "making nice" or compromising with us

President Obama "made nice" with the enemy for 4 years, and the recession dragged on, inflicting needless loss and suffering on millions.

Social Security has nothing to do with the deficit. The enemy has no business paying for tax cuts to the 1% or illegal, immoral wars with Social Security's earned benefits.

[indepat]

45. Well said

[Marr]

10. It's blatantly obvious now that Obama is the one negotiating *for* these cuts.

They aren't a concession for him by any means-- they're the goal. All the rest of this is just political cover and bullshit.

[cliffordu]

11. LOL.

you are a GREAT kidder!!

[Marr]

13. And you've got nothing but the same old "lol"s.

Or maybe you can explain how this is all part of his brilliant "rope-a-dope".

[cliffordu]

14. ....Keep watching......

As usual, your mileage may vary....

[Autumn]

39. And you are right. This is not something that he is being forced to do.

He's insisting on it.

[JDPriestly]

12. Shame on Obama. And meanwhile he is negotiating yet another trade

agreement that will result in a loss of still more American jobs, lower wages here and even richer people at the top of our economy. That is just shameful.

[Union Scribe]

18. Yep, the mother of all free trade coups.

If aliens landed, and we described to them what Republicans and Democrats believe...would they even have a fair shot at guessing which party many of our leaders belong to?

[okieinpain]

22. I'm more concerned with trade agreements

then I am with raising the age limit or CPI on SS.

[JDPriestly]

35. The trade agreements and the threats to Social Security and Medicare

are two sides of the same coin -- the crippling of America.

It is really sinister. If you enter into trade agreements, you increase imports, destroy more American jobs and thereby lower wages in the US. The result is that tax revenues, including the Social Security and Medicare tax revenues fall.

Total destruction of the American economy: and it is all due to the trade agreements. They are an abomination.

[Paul E Ester]

15. The latest Onion headline...nt

[FuzzyRabbit]

19. The war on poverty

I remember when the Democratic President Johnson talked about the War on Poverty, he meant helping the poor. Our current Democratic president thinks the war on poverty means the opposite.

Obama is a great orator who has cast a magic spell over many Democrats. In his speeches he leaves the impression that he supports liberal values, yet he fights against them at nearly every turn.

He abandoned the public option before even starting negotiations for health care reform.

He appointed to the Cat Food Commission several members who are vocal supporters of cutting and even eliminating social security and Medicare.

His justice department refuses to prosecute the banks that caused the current depression, even refusing to prosecute banks who launder money for drug cartels and Al Qaeda.

If you are a wealthy banker, Obama is your guy. If you are middle class or poor, you are going to be screwed by Obama. His mother would be ashamed of him.

[L0oniX]

25. The idolizers are crushed ...and mostly silent now. Maybe now the truth can dominate. n/t

[WillyT]

27. K & R !!!

[williesgirl]

31. I think it's time for a massive march on Washington before it's too late. We should be flooding

the WH switchboard, as well as Congress, with our feelings about this betrayal of the Social Security promise years ago. I, for one, paid into the fund for 50 years and began receiving retirement benefits last year, which was already 16 months beyond that original promise.

THIS FUCKING SUCKS. THESE ARE EARNED BENEFITS, NOT ENTITLEMENTS!

[DearHeart]

34. I do too! But it needs to be more massive than anything ever seen in DC!

But how do you get people off their asses?? I've tried talking people into emailing or phoning the WH or their Senators and Reps, but none are willing to even do that!

[JDPriestly]

36. Here is the catch: to go to DC would cost me more than I can afford

on Social Security. That's why they are picking on Social Security.

Check out the facts. These are the Social Security benefits, maximum, average and minimum that Obama wants to cut with chained CPI.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022500508

[DearHeart]

43. I'm unemployed and cant afford to travel there either, so I completely understand your situation

but, there are millions of people who are much closer to DC who can get there easier and who can afford it. The rest of us could either go to our local federal buildings or to the local SS administration buildings. If someone is disabled or sick and can't make it, light up the phone lines and internet tubes.

That's just my humble opinion; probably never happen anyway, most of the 300,000,000+ people in this country are too apathetic to do anything, but will bitch to the high heavens about the cuts when it starts to affect them or their loved ones. I have checked out the Chained CPI crap and think it's a tremendously bad idea...and it will hurt people like you and like my parents.

300,000,000+ and we can't get a million and a half or two million to go to DC?

[Autumn]

38. Funny that he would chose to stand firm on this.

Maybe the republicans can get him to back down.

[WinkyDink]

41. Obama is too young to care, too rich to worry.

[Capt. Obvious]

42. People! People! Get a hold of yourselves!

The man has only been in office not even 50 months. Give him a chance to finish decorating before demanding he wave a magic wand over problems he is absolutely powerless to stop.

[Autumn]

44. ROTFLMAO

Thanks for that.