Well, if the White House actually sticks to its guns, this is a pretty big f*cking deal. Per TPM:
The White House bluntly ruled out raising the Medicare eligibility age as part of a plan to reduce the federal debt on Monday.
“The president has made clear that that’s not the right policy to take," press secretary Jay Carney reiterated during a daily briefing at the White House.
Of course, I suspect the White House is still favorable to the chained CPI idea for Social Security. But in the last week the White House has said 1) that they
would reject cuts to Medicaid, and 2) they are not in favor of raising the Medicare eligibility age. Very encouraging signals coming from the White House so far.
I know, some folks are going to say it was because of pressure from the left, others that it was Obama's master plan all along, but whatever the reason the White House came to this decision to stand firm on these two great health care programs, I'm happy about it.
I'll just throw in that a little (or a lot of) rabble-rousing on these issues obviously doesn't hurt. If it even played a small part in bringing this about, I'm all for it and won't mind seeing more of it in future budget battles, and frankly all future political battles to come.
But, if the President holds firm on this (which, given that he is still a politician, no one should take for granted), this is a big win for the American people.