I am a supporter of Obama, and I think he made a mistake by including Chained CPI in his budget. I'm a political realist, which means I don't go around thinking that savaging my President is a good idea, with Republicans the way they are.
So, what do we do? Get Sixteen. Get Sixteen what?
Get Sixteen Senators, at least, to openly say they will oppose voting for Cloture or voting on any budget that carries it. More would be even better, but this at least forces the President's hand on giving up, since it would require Democrats to vote for cloture, something we will tell them that we will punish.
With Harkin, Sanders, and Warren on board opposing this, and Hirono and Whitehouse almost certainly viable, that means we only have to find 11 more Senators. Once we do, though, it creates two conditions: one, the folks who are voting against cloture will vote against passage, meaning the majority votes will have to come from elsewhere, even if every Republican votes for the budget in question. Which they won't.
But also, it forces the President, if he wants it to pass with Chained CPI, to enlist the help of well over a dozen Republicans. Not an attractive prospect.
The key here is to make sure it's understood that Chained CPI is dead. Getting better than 11 more votes will certainly be helpful. 41, certainly, would be helpful. What we want to do heighten the difficulty of such a deal, to the point where Obama decides to cut his losses, and just tell the Republicans that Chained CPI, much less even more stringent cuts, are off the table.
Put his back to the wall, folks. Get Sixteen, and start building the barrier against benefit cuts.