Obama has made a decision on Social Security. He has decided to keep his campaign promises on not raising the retirement age or cutting benefits for Social Security.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
Finally Obama has put a line in the sand on Social Security. He will NOT endorse his deficit commission's plan of raising the retirement age on Social Security.
President Obama has decided not to endorse his deficit commission's recommendation to raise the retirement age, and otherwise reduce Social Security benefits, in Tuesday's State of the Union address, cheering liberals and drawing a stark line between the White House and key Republicans in Congress.
Obama spoke to Democratic lawmakers over the weekend on his plans to NOT endorse the recommendations of his deficit commission on Social Security. Democratic lawmakers are jubilant and plan to do a news conference to showcase that Democrats are the protectors of Social Security and Republicans want to gut the program.
Democratic lawmakers, nonetheless, quickly moved to capitalize on the president's decision, scheduling an afternoon news conference to call attention to the man Republicans have chosen to deliver the GOP response to Obama's speech: Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.), chairman of the House Budget Committee.
Democrats will probably contrast themselves with Ryan's roadmap tomorrow.
Two years ago, Ryan published a plan to balance the budget titled "A Roadmap for America's Future," which called for deep cuts in both Social Security and Medicare spending. While Republicans as a group have been loath to publicly embrace the details of Ryan's plan, Democrats argue that Ryan's starring role as the voice of the party on fiscal issues suggests that Social Security soon will join non-defense appropriations on the GOP chopping block.
Ryan has said he would like to include entitlement cuts in the budget blueprint House Republicans expect to draft this spring. Pressed to take a position on Ryan's "Roadmap" over the weekend, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) acknowledged on NBC's "Meet the Press" that "the direction in which the 'Roadmap' goes is something we need to embrace."
Liberals are very happy with this news.
Liberals, who have been alarmed by Obama's recent to shift to the center and his effort to court the nation's business community, applauded the decision, arguing that Social Security cuts are neither necessary to reduce current deficits nor a wise move politically. Polls show that large majorities of Americans in both parties - even in households that identify themselves as part of the tea party movement - oppose cuts to Social Security.
"Most of us would like to see the Democrats remain the strong defenders of Social Security, which they have to be if they want to win the next election," said Roger Hickey, co-director of the liberal Campaign for America's Future.
Sounds like Obama wants to run on Social Security in 2012 in contrast to Republicans.