From Washington Post:
So maybe we should recall the forgotten lesson of Clinton’s victory: He won in no small part because he drew a very hard line against Medicare cuts, and used that battle to articulate an expansive vision of Democratic governance, which he contrasted with the GOP’s vision of a “winner-take-all society.”
I just got off the phone with Michael Waldman, who was Clinton’s chief speechwriter throughout much of that battle, and he told me that a crucial piece of the historical record is being lost. While Clinton, a New Democrat, did push for welfare reform and call for a balanced budget to restore his fiscal credibility, the former president pivoted from there to a major, protracted public fight over Medicare — and an unabashed defense of a liberal role for government — that was crucial in restoring his public standing.
Few remember this part of the story, but Waldman notes that Clinton seized on the Medicare standoff to reaffirm his support for the social contract as embodied in Lyndon Johnson’s Medicare promise to America, frequently referring to proposals to cut Medicare as an affront to our “values.” Clinton even used Johnson’s pen to veto the GOP’s budget.
I fear that our President, like he has many times before, will pass up the opportunity to speak firmly and make this moment symbolic.
I think if he does not do this within the next week or two, he will never do it. And that's unforgivable.
How many opportunities to frame the debate are we going to lose? It's not so difficult here. Get your minions out and unify a message that doesn't change from person to person. Say I WILL NOT at least once and make sure you live up to that promise.
If current history tells us anything, we will be following the republicans narrative very soon, and that narrative suggests that Medicare, Medicaid and SS CANNOT be off the chopping blocks because we at a precipice in our deficit that will not allow these programs to continue untouched.
That narrative is just a plain lie.
Will the democrats come out with another one and stick to it in the next week or two? Or will we go through this pathetic circus once again and find ourselves giving up most things so we don't have to give up everything?