So the President is making us all crazy again by negotiating with himself. I suspect this Politico assessment is pretty close to the truth —
Anxiety, not ideology prodded Obama to push for entitlement savings, people close to the president say. Obama has told people in his orbit that he feels “squeezed†by the rise of entitlement spending and sees it as a threat to getting anything else done, especially his plans for increased education and infrastructure spending.
For the past two years, Obama has championed what he calls “a balanced approach†to debt and deficit reduction, demanding $700 billion in high-earner tax hikes from Republicans earlier this year as a prerequisite to budget cuts and reform of runaway Social Security and Medicare costs.
The time to pay up is now, Obama’s aides say, and the White House needed to offer something to bring Republicans back to the bargaining table. They insist that he’s opposed to deeply cutting entitlements and is willing to do only the bare minimum needed to get a deal done.
However, the offer is doomed to fail, because ultimately Republicans aren’t interested in anything but obstruction. Paul Krugman:
Since the beginning, the Obama administration has seemed eager to gain the approval of the grownups — the sensible people who will reward efforts to be Serious, and eventually turn on those nasty, intransigent Republicans as long as Obama and co. don’t cater too much to the hippies.This is the latest, biggest version of that strategy. Unfortunately, it will almost surely fail. Why? Because there are no grownups — only people who try to sound like grownups, but are actually every bit as childish as anyone else.
This quote attributed to an anonymous White House staffer is revealing —
“We’re not going to have the White House forever, folks. If he doesn’t do this, Paul Ryan is going to do it for us in a few years,†said a longtime Obama aide, referring to the 2012 Republican vice presidential candidate who proposed a sweeping overhaul of Medicare that would replace some benefits with vouchers.
This tells us that the Mighty Right is a major bugaboo in the White House collective mind; they will never be defeated; only temporarily contained. Charles Pierce —
Now, we have a Democratic administration, empowered by a solid re-election, that is proposing to its most loyal supporters that they support at least a partial sellout of the Democratic party’s greatest legacy because, some day, a Republican president might do something much worse. (As though said imaginary Republican president won’t go ahead and do much worse anyway, and claim a national mandate for it while he’s at it, and eventually find a way to blame “a Democratic president” for having launched the process in the first place.) I literally never have heard this argument made in any political context. I certainly never have heard it from anyone in an incumbent administration. If this is your rationale for making policy, what in the name of god is the point of running for office in the first place?
Yeah, that’s supposed to be how it works. Maybe the White House staffer believes democracy is already too far gone to be revived, though. In which case, perhaps the time for bargaining is over.
And, as for Krugman’s theory of the President wanting the approval of the grown-ups, may I suggest that what he’s done is change the Right’s meme form, to quote the late, great, Richard Pryor, “That N*****’s Crazy!”, to a mantra of, “That N*****’s F*CKIN’ SERIOUS!!!”
How’s that for being taken seriously, President Obama?
Maybe it’s just me, but for the life of me what I fail to see is how President Obama coming out in favor of Chained CPI helps him now and in the future, helps keep his previous progressive legislation in place for the future, and/or helps his legacy?
With the Republican Party like a winery conglomerate which is coming apart at the seams – where different varietal factions are infighting, and the grapes of wrath that are the base continue to die on the vine, it seems to me that the President just gave the Republican Party some Miracle-Gro and tons of fertilizer for them to spread, in order to pull themselves together, and keep the House, and maybe win the Senate, in 2014, and give the Democratic Presidential candidate in 2016 fits trying to explain this away.
I understand that the 11th Dimensional Chess move here may have been to show how reasonable the President is, anticipating a blanket Republican rejection of his CPI admustment because of some increased taxes and elimination of loopholes, but he still did something NO OTHER Democratic President has ever done – come out, not for INCREASING SS, but DECREASING it!
I sure as hell his fall back position is, “Ok, you rejected THAT offer.
Here’s my new offer:
Since you Republicans have put yourselves on record about how you are now SOOOOO openly worried about SS, how about raising the cap, or, at least create a donut-hole from, say, $120,000 a year to $300,000, and ALL investment income is taxed just like regular labor income, including FICA?
You’ve just gone on record that doing nothing is unacceptable, and yet, when I offer to do the CPI, you opted to do nothing.
And if THAT’S not good enough for you, here’s my final offer:
NOTHING!
I offer you nothing.
N-O-T-H-I-N-G!!!
I just don’t get it.
There is a basic flaw in the premise that rising entitlement spending will keep Republicans from agreeing to pay for infrastructure or education initiatives. That might be true if they actually cared about governing, perhaps. But they aren’t.
Yes, the GOP has been raving about controlling entitlement spending for years, but it’s only because they want a way to destroy entitlement spending entirely. From the GOP point of view, Medicare spending has been “out of control” since the program started in the 1960s! Giving them something they want just makes them ask for more. They will NEVER say, “well, OK, you gave us entitlement reform, so we’ll let you have education spending.” That should be obvious.
The White House has gotten irrationally attached to passing something. I heard Axelrod on TV last night, and when Maddow asked him why they hadn’t proposed leaving the CPI alone, and just raising the contributions cap, he said that they couldn’t pass that. A self-fulfilling prophecy if I ever heard one – you can’t pass what you don’t propose and fight for.
(I don’t see them failing to suggest gun legislation just because they can’t pass it.)
OK, so here’s the thing: it’s possible Obama did this purely because he knew for sure it would be rejected by Republicans. It’s possible not. However, what is true is that by offering this and being shot down, he is contributing to the growing public perception that Obama is willing to negotiate, even offer things that are painful to give up, whereas the Republicans are a bunch of crazed weasels that wouldn’t know a good deal if it bit their heads off.
It’s important that left wing types criticize him on this. For one thing, it is something that SHOULD be criticized, as it is something that should never have been brought to the table at all, no matter what strategy is being used, but for another thing, and this is a very important thing, it contributes to the growing public perception that Obama is really a moderate that is willing to go against the wishes of the left wing of his party in order to get stuff done. Most people out there in regular people land have no clue in the world what ‘chained cpi’ is or how it might impact them, they just know it is something that Obama is offering that the left doesn’t like.
What’s truly important is what happens next. What we cannot, under any circumstances, at all do is go back to saying to anybody that will isten that Obama is a weak guy that can’t do anything right and always bows to the will of the republicans and will always cave, and will always betray us, so it really doesn’t matter what happens in the next three years, nothing good will happen until we get a new president, the end. That right there is how we lost in 2010, I believe. We created a perception that the outcome of the election didn’t really matter, so people didn’t show up.
What we must do next is to start saying that the president is going to have to continue offering painful options in order to attempt to get something, anything at all, done, in the face of fanatical opposition — UNLESS we are able to give him a BETTER CONGRESS TO WORK WITH in 2014. We must make it crystal clear that this election is one of the most important ever, because if we DO manage to give Obama a decent congress, he can actually do what he wants to do, what we all want him to do, and he will do it. If we stay home and DO NOT give him a better congress … well, more of the same can be expected.
It just seems to me like a lot of the left seems to be getting on the old ‘Obama is a traitor that either stabbed or wants to stab us all in the back at the first opportunity’ bandwagon. Honest criticism from the left of the president and his policies is useful and necessary, both because that is what free speech is actually FOR, and to make others aware that that this is no radical, no left-winger, this is essentially a centrist, just like they always wanted. There is a point, however, where it stops being useful and necessary and starts being self-defeating.
-Ian
Though it will be the pinnacle of hypocricy, I can easily see the Republicans running on “SAVING” SS in 2014 and 2016 – much like they did with running as the great “protectors” of Medicare in 2010.
Basically, they will be a pack of hungry wolves accusing the vegetarian shephards out shearing their sheep, of actually wanting to make rare lamb-chops and roasts out of them.
And once the shephards are out of the way – DINNER!!!!!
I can see your point, Ian – but I can see the above scenario happening just as easily.
“it contributes to the growing public perception that Obama is really a moderate that is willing to go against the wishes of the left wing of his party in order to get stuff done”
I don’t think it is just perception that is what President Obama is. He’s a moderate, always has been. I see Chained CPI as a less than desirable but necessary move. Our deficits in relation to GDP are too high. Our tax receipts in relation to GDP are too low. From what I understand CCPI will slow the growth of almost all government programs that are tied to cost of living indexes, SSI, veteran’s benefits, etc. It would be great if we could just say fully fund everything but it is unrealistic. Obama is not a king. So he is doing what he sees as reasonable, a small reduction in the growth of social programs tied with a modest tax increase, sounds reasonable to me. Oh I’ve read it also eliminates the prescription drug company Medicare rip-off.
You know, I’m remembering my psychology classes. And this is in effect a reactionary move. In effect, it is giving republicans control over the democratic agenda. Saying they are going to do it gives it an inevitability. It is ceding power to the republicans that they did not have to earn and may never have. It is costing them nothing. And I don’t think empowering the right’s agenda for them was what his supporters had in mind in 2012.
It just seems to me like a lot of the left seems to be getting on the old ‘Obama is a traitor that either stabbed or wants to stab us all in the back at the first opportunity’ bandwagon.
Well, he has lost some of his lustre in my eyes, but I haven’t walked in his shoes either, so I’ll console my myself with the idea that he’s best I’m gonna get to move us in the direction to where I think we should go. I have to agree with Gulag…I just don’t get it either. ButI still believe in him and trust that he’s trying to do the best for the American people.
I agree that the Republicans will not accept Obama’s offer. They have decided not to let any Democrat, much less a black Democrat, govern as a Democrat, so obstructionism is their end game until they get into the White House.
Why Obama does not come out and say that Ryan’s vaunted budget has few to no numbers in it and does not say what he would cut to get his savings is what I do not understand. The fact that Ryan has lost his shiny with some of the press is only a temporary condition. In a few months, we’ll once again start hearing how he is a “serious” “budget wonk” interested in “fiscal stability” and Ryan will begin being taken seriously again. The thing to do is to show his emptiness now, directly, in a few well-chosen words instead of one of Obama’s trademark rambles that last two times too long and use three times too many words, with far too much repetition of phrases that are impressionistic rather than being hard facts. Facts are hard things, and the Republicans need to be pounded with hard things until there are none left.
I’m with Krugman, e.g. the President has good intentions but is just catastrophically wrong in his assumptions. If after all he’s done the last five years in the way of showing how much of an adult he is vis a vis the GOP, and the VSP have not responded as expected, it should be clear by now they are not ever going to reward him and slap the GOP. As Krugman says, they’re just as childish. A lot of these people just like to hear themselves talk and bask in their incredibly awesome auras. They really don’t care.
The other part of the problem is he’s operating on the basis of some of the false assumptions coming from the right on things like “entitlements,†a loaded term in itself that denotes deceit when out of the same mouths come “reform,†that calls for solutions to problems that don’t exist.
Hopefully after this latest rejection he will, but the time to go hard was right after the election. Unfortunately he’s lost a lot of that mojo.
If this were basketball it would be like the pre-game pep talk from the coach that informs the team “they’re better than us, we’re not good enough or quick enough and doggone it the fans don’t even like us.” If this were the position all bargaining starts from then no wonder the effort seems so tepid. So Obama feels the need to “get something done” as proof that he could, perhaps even more than risking losing one or more in a full frontal assault. Consequently we should not be surprised at what we are seeing.
As much as Obama wants to manage some dignity with his legacy this will never be all about him. He could lose a few “for the team” (as Bush did when his Social Security privatization dog and pony show hit the road and subsequently lost) and actually demonstrate to the dull electorate what they are up against.
I’ve quoted psychiatrists Justin Franks psychoanalysis-from-afar (aka forensic psychoanalysis) in which he found noteworthy, not just Obama’s reluctance to call out those viciously attacking him and progressive causes, but comments he made indicating a certain awe and deference for the GOP. ….wish I had the book in front of me to quote.
Even in the relative partiy in seats held when contrasted with Truman I find Obama’s game plan severely lacking and have little confidence that much can come from humble initiatives that risk little.
Here is what gets me. Social Security is not in serious financial trouble, and where it does have a problem, it is years and years from now. It doesn’t need a fix today, but if we were determined to fix it, there are better ones we could talk about, like raising the contribution cap. The White House doesn’t seem to think they could pass right now, but so what? Let’s do the right thing, or nothing, not the unnecessary but politically feasible thing.
Medicare DOES have some financial problems, in the near term. But they are tangled up with the entire health-care industry cost mess, and this doesn’t help. Obamacare would help, if they kept the pressure on and don’t let the GOP governors destroy it, and Congress bad-mouth it to death, but that seems to have slipped their minds.
The deficit is largely a product of a shattered economy and two wars. If we could get the economy going, revenues would pick up drastically, and spending dependent of helping out people in down times would fall. So let’s borrow a few trillion at current rates, which are basically sub-zero interest, stimulate the damn economy, and get this thing back on track. We’ve already mostly stopped flushing money down the Iraq toilet, and soon will in Afghanistan. Presto. Problem solved.
I am too tired of all this belly-aching about the deficit from the same Congresscritters who put Iraq, Afghanistan and Bush’s tax cut on a credit card, and whining about ‘out-of-control’ entitlements from rich white guys who want to eliminate them, not actually fix them.
White House : We only proposed Social Security cut because GOP asked us to
Somone commented in response that this had been intended as a defense but sounds more like a confession. I’m thinking possibly an excuse. Could staffs hands be tied and they couldn’t actually come out and say “he made us do it.”
What it did accomplish was to send a wave of disgust through Obama’s base and lead many to question Obama’s strength, conviction, persistence, confidence and verve. The GOP seems to be winning this game, handily.
Kinda feels like we’re getting put through a good cop bad cop routine.
OK, OK…we don’t need social programs…just get the economy going! We can’t take it any more.
What hurts me the most, is that neither President Obama nor his his wife came from a wealthy background, and my hope was that if he didn’t have his pulse on the middle class, maybe she might.
And it just flabbergasts me that today, with pensions virtually extinct, 401K plans having proven they were just another great tax-dodge for the wealthy, while at the same time being a crap-shoot for regular people, and unemployment rampant (further decreasing the amount of SS those people will get – like me), that a Democratic President would even give voice to ANY thing that wouldn’t be an INcrease in SS, and not a DEcrease, no matter how minimal we’re assured it will be.
When you don’t have much hair left, you’re concerned even if it’s a friend who approches your head with a pair of scissors and a razor.
As originally designed, the 401K plan idea was designed to be the third leg of retirement, in conjunction with pensions and SS, for workers.
And as I said earlier, the rich saw that it was a great place to park spare income tax-free until they were ready to take the money out, once they reached retirement age. And if you want an example of that, you need look no further than to see how much Mitt Romney had in HIS 401K Plan!
Also, companies took advantage of the 401K’s, by taking away defined and guaranteed pensions, and telling employees, “There’s YOUR retirement vehicle. But, Caveat Emptor.”
More like “Vini. Vidi. Vici.”
And now, how’s that retirement stool look?
With most pensions gone (and the few that are still around, are in constant peril – just ask the Hostess workers about that), so is that leg is virtually gone; and regular people having lost a substantial amount of potential savings and growth in the Recession, that 401K leg is a lot shorter, and vulnerable to the vagueries of the market; so, the stool is left with only one stable leg.
And now, the President appears ready to come at it with a wood-plane to shave that leg down some, saying it’ll make it more stable to stand on.
Pardon my cynisicm.
And pardon my fear.
I’m already screwed. I don’t need another turn of that screw.
If he doesn’t do this, Paul Ryan is going to do it for us in a few years,†said a longtime Obama aide
Shorter WH tool:
We have to destroy it now, or Republicans will destroy it in a few years. It’s better that we destroy it sooner because…uh…
I’m hoping Obama is a great chess player, and he’s just backing the GOP into a checkmate. I’m hopin’.
We could save “our” entitlements by treating churches like business, because THEY ARE.
They could have deductions, but the tax free ride is over.Time for a war tax too. No more wars on the credit card.
They’re ceding the argument that it’s an inevitability that this will happen. The republicans never had to make the argument and take the hit. The White House has done it for them. They’re gonna do it, so don’t complain to them about it or hold them accountable. Let’s do it for them!
Let’s see, what else can we save them the trouble of advocating for? Outlawing abortion? They’re on their way to doing that. It’s looking pretty damn inevitable to me. So let’s outlaw it after six weeks and force an ultrasound to beat them to it!
War with Iran? We have Presidential candidates singing songs about that meme. How far away can it be? Let’s strategically bomb them now to give them nowhere else to go.
Everyone who heard crazy Ted Cruz make this same argument against gun control: i.e. if we do this then sometime in the future the Feds. will use a registry to take away our guns, could realize that this was a crazy statement.
Now we get the same crazy from the White House? We’re doomed.