General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Criticize the President? We should not even be having serious conversations about this. [View all]TekGryphon
(430 posts)You're right in that this may have given Republicans some talking points about Social Security.
Who cares? Honestly?
Do you really believe anyone takes Republicans at face value when they say THEY'RE the party that opposed slavery? Do you really believe anyone is going to take them any more seriously when they say THEY'RE the party trying to reinforce entitlements?
Bernie Sanders, Paul Krugman, and plenty of other subject matter experts are out there doing exactly what they need to be doing - presenting the left's viewpoint that Chained CPI is as big of an economic disaster (reduced aggregate demand, more seniors in an already struggling workforce, etc) as it is morally.
We should be echoing those points, talking to friends, family, coworkers, and neighbors and helping them understand that putting seniors on the streets doesn't just hurt seniors, it hurts all of us.
Instead we're spending a seemingly inordinate amount of time black balling the President for finally doing what we've been trying to do for years - get Chained CPI into the public's attention so we can destroy it as an idea once and for all.
In my mind Obama learned from the Individual Mandate. Had it been proposed by a lame-duck Democratic President sooner (say Bill Clinton circa 1999) as a compromise during a time when health reform wasn't really on the table, we might actually have had the Public Option in the ACA, because the public would have already got a good glimpse at the Individual Mandate and decided it wasn't the right solution.