Obama Prepared to Sell Out Rank and File Democrats on Medicare

[Better Believe It]

And at his news conference today President Obama once again indicated his willingness to put cuts in Social Security and Medicare benefits on the table as part of a grand bi-partisan deficit compromise. BBI

Obama Prepared to Sell Out Rank and File Democrats on Medicare to Enhance Personal Brand
By: Jon Walker
June 28, 2011

Rank and file Democratic incumbents and candidates could conceivably ride the Medicare privatization issue to victory in 2012, just as they did in 2006 after George Bush attempted to privatize Social Security. As a result, Mitch McConnell has said that Medicare cuts must be a part of any “grand bargain” on the debt ceiling.

Unfortunately, many news outlets are now reporting that President Obama is actively trying to hand over this political edge to the GOP in order to get a debt ceiling deal. From Politico:

For their part, Obama and Reid appear prepared to reach much higher, putting substantial Medicare savings on the table if Republicans would accept added revenues. With the House GOP leadership in New York, all of Monday’s White House maneuvering was Senate-centric. But Obama’s hope is that Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), with whom he met privately last week, will be intrigued by a bolder package that might also help neutralize the Medicare issue now hurting the GOP among elderly voters.

Getting Republicans to sign onto a deal could enhance Obama’s personal brand. It would show him to be a serious “deficit hawk,” able to rise above partisan politics and cut a deal. But he would be helping himself at the expense of everyone else in the party. By giving the Republicans the political “out” they want on Medicare privatization, Obama could be dealing a devastating blow to everyone else in his own party who hoped to use the Ryan vote against their GOP opponents in 2012.

http://elections.firedoglake.com/2011/06/28/obama-prepared-to-sellout-rank-and-file-dems-on-medicare-to-enhance-personal-brand/



President Barack Obama talks with Chief of Staff Bill Daley below a portrait of Ronald Reagan in the Cross Hall of the White House, March 3, 2011.