You have an easy win.
You can pivot right now in a very public way, and nobody will think the lesser of you. Republicans might try to claim that you are flip flopping, but you can then very publicly say that you have listened to the American People, and that instead of cutting SS, you have heard them say that they need SS to be strengthened for the future.
Now is the time to call for an entitlements summit.
Remember the healthcare summit? That was sheer brilliance. Republicans had nothing to say, because they have nothing to say. All they can say is that they don't want whatever it is that you want.
If you are able to reverse course this way, then they will not be able to so quickly and publicly deny what they have been saying since your budget proposal was made.
The Social Safety Net and Retirement Security Summit would be a fabulous way to put the Republicans' rank hypocrisy on display for the nation.
Remember how the left accused you of adopting right wing ideas? Well, that's partially true, of course. You're going to have to live with that. Your budget proposal has now led to Republicans promoting ideas that are from the left. They don't want to cut any Social Security, and they complain that you are throwing seniors under the bus.
This is when you switch directions.
You can say something like this-
During my presidency the Republicans have claimed that Social Security will be bankrupt if we don't cut it, and that the entitlements system in this country is draining our treasury. First, I wan to say that there is no way that Social Security can add to the deficit. It just doesn't. We have a law on the books that prevents it from doing that. In fact, the social security administration is one of the biggest investors in US govt. debt. Secondly, Social Security, as it is currently funded, can pay out full benefits for decades. Just so we have those things covered.
I offered a budget plan that was partially based on their ideas. The entire time I've been in office, the Republicans have told me that there is no revenue problem. They have told me that we have a spending problem. I took them at their word. That was my mistake.
In light of the fact that the Republicans have not seen fit to include any sort of new revenue in any budget, I attempted to meet them halfway in these negotiations.
That was another mistake.
So I am calling on Republicans and Democrats to join together in an entitlements summit that will seek to solve our social security and medicare finance issues. Government may have to react again to changing population at some point in the distant future, but my goal is to pass a budget that will solve the issue of social security and medicare for the next fifty years.
So I look forward to working with both sides of the aisle here to solve the solvency issues of our most successful government programs ever. Social Security has never missed a check. Medicare has saved the lives of countless Americans over the years. They need to be funded fully for the next fifty years.
I call on Republicans and Democrats in congress to join me and solve this problem. The American people deserve better than they are getting.
Republicans, bring your ideas for keeping these great American institutions healthy and useful for the next fifty years. Let's open those ideas up to the watchful eye of the public, and to the scrutiny of the financial minds.
Democrats, bring your ideas to the table. Let's open them up to public scrutiny, and share them with the American people.
It's time to demonstrate to the American Public that we know how to put our differences aside and move forwards on policy. "
I am not happy that this president would be so credulous as to be think that the Republicans ever negotiate in good faith. I am not happy that this president thinks that Social Security should be cut at all.
I was raised on death benefits. I would suggest that the death benefits that were received in my name were probably put to the worst possible uses. My Dad paid for alcohol, drugs, and his own leisure. Yet, even that poor usage of those benefits still provided me with a roof over my head, and a safe neighborhood in which to grow up. Even the most ineffective use of SS turns out to be an overall cost savings for the American People. I could be costing the state 75k a year in prison, right?