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In reply to the discussion: Bernie Sanders Cracks The CODED THREAT To Entitlements In Obama’s State Of The Union [View all]hfojvt
(37,573 posts)The President is always free to clarify things by offering specific plans, but of course he does not operate that way. Easier to claim deniability later on maybe.
As for SIX MONTHS AGO, that is quite relevant because Obama just said "As I told the speaker last summer". That is, he was re-affirming his support for what he said six months ago.
No matter how simple you want to say it, it is simply not clear that "reining in the long term costs" does not mean cuts to medicare.
It is very easy to make it plainer than that. He could have said what Sanders said. "Of course he was not strong enough. He should have gotten up there and said, you know what, in the midst of a terrible recession, I promise you we are not going to cut one nickel of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid."
That's what I really, really wanted to hear.