Number 1
...first of all, we need to remind everyone that Social Security has not added a penny to our debt at this point. As a matter of fact, our country would show a lot more debt if we reported how much the government has borrowed from Social Security, which is trillions of dollars right now.
...
This is what we've done for years, Chris, is we've cut benefits and raised taxes on Social Security without changing it from a political slush fund, which is what it's been for the last two decades, to a real savings program....So we need to look at real reform before we go straight to Social Security, which people have paid for, and start cutting things.
Number 2
...Too many of us have been interested in defending programs the way they were written in 1938, believing that if we admit the need to modernize these programs to fit changing times, then the other side will use those acknowledgments to destroy them altogether.
You can probably guess at this point that the first quote was from Jim DeMint on FNS today. The second was our President 4 years ago and has continued to be his position. Now DeMint's solution is privatization. But that is besides the point. He is making the point that we should not be looking for ways to steal from what is duly owed to US Citizens. Seems like a pretty reasonable statement. Maybe a Democrat will make it at some point.
I am just wondering at what point Democrats will be willing to say enough. When will it be ok to do asWilliam Greider suggests:
People who still have great hope for Obama can help revive his presidency, but only if they toughen up themselves. Stop holding his hand (he's an adult) and start building a people's agenda that compels the president to change his. Obama won't like this at first—his own supporters talking back—but he can learn to draw strength from their courage. If people fail to step up with their own message, the president will likely fail with his.
If not now, Bill Kristol will quickly begin looking like a prophet.
We're going to have an agreement on extending current tax rates for three or four years, I think. We're going to have an agreement that we shouldn't have earmarks. There'll be an agreement on some spending cuts. There'll be an agreement on prosecuting the war in Afghanistan.
We're going to have the Obama-Boehner-DeMint agenda for the next three or four months, and it's going to be good for the country, actually.
The question is will progressive accept this turn of events.