No Account: The Social Security Hope-a-Dope
There’s an email petition appeal going around from firedoglake (FDL), encouraging us to “Hold The Obama Campaign To Its Guarantee of 'No Changes' to Social Security". It lays out very nicely how, on the one hand, “Joe Biden 'guaranteed' the president would not touch Social Security if re-elected,” and, on the other, “the president again voiced support for ‘tough spending cuts’ to programs like Social Security and Medicare... and complains he doesn't get enough credit for his own willingness to cut benefits.” [FDL’s emphasis]
FDL has been good on a lot of issues, especially healthcare reform, where they campaigned for single-payer relentlessly. But how, exactly, are they going to “make sure the Obama administration honors this commitment”? With a petition? Really? Isn’t it obvious, from their own experience, that Obama is going to talk out of both sides of his mouth during the campaign, and do whatever he wants after the election? And what he wants is to be remembered as the fiscally-responsible Democrat who cut Social Security.