Obama acknowledged our deficit problem when he spoke Tuesday night.

[PDittie]

"The aging population and the rising cost of healthcare makes Medicare the biggest contributor to our deficit," he said. "I believe we've got to find ways to reform that program without hurting seniors who count on it to survive."

The way I read this is that we need Medicare for all, just for the record. I fear that is not what the President will be proposing, however.

http://articles.latimes.com/2013/jan/02/nation/la-na-fiscal-analysis-20130103

The article takes a broader view of how the Republicans rely on older Americans -- those who use SS and Medicare -- as their base, while the Dems' support is more heavily concentrated among younger voters... who want spending in in areas of job training and education, setting up this odd dichotomy.

It doesn't explain why all those TeaBaggers go to rallies with signs saying "Keep your big-government mitts off my Medicare", but then only the most profound ignorance seems to do that.

Anyway, the Debt Ceiling Tilt-A-Whirl in a couple of months is going to mean some of us -- like me; I'm six months shy of 55 -- get tubed. They don't call it "Chained" for nothing.

[Warren Stupidity]

1. There is no good reform that will get through this congress.

So if we get reform it will be cuts to Medicare, most likely in the form of raising the eligibility age or means testing benefits.

[forestpath]

2. I agree we need Medicare for all and this President will NEVER propose it.

[JoePhilly]

3. I thought that was supposed to happen NOW, during the fiscal cliff ...

Oh wait ... it was also supposed to happen last summer during that debt ceiling fight.

Oh wait again ... it was going to be in Obama 2011 budget!!!

And in his 2010 budget!!!

So is it going to happen this time for sure or what??

Or ... are we just going to go through the same pattern of haironfire threads, endless predictions of how Obama is going to kill us all, and then .... poof.

[Enrique]

4. yes, when Social Security and Medicare are threatened, people freak out

that's the way it always has been my whole life, that's the reason the programs have survived.

One of the biggest changes that Obama has brought is that a large number of Democrats are now saying "don't worry, relax" to the people that are concerned with keeping entitlements. Previously, only an handful of hardcore Third Wayers would do that, now Obama has made is mainstream.

[JoePhilly]

5. Where did I say relax?

What I am describing are the endless hair on fire threads on DU, in which, many are absolutely sure that Obama plans to cut those programs. And its about to happen ANY SECOND!!!!

They are sure of it. They can take any statement Obama makes and find the code words which reveal his secret evil plan. Here it comes!!!!

Worried? Call your representatives and make sure they know your position. Do the same with the White House. Recommend others do the same. All good. Start calling other Duers "Third Wayers", or suggesting Obama isn't pure enough, and I can't take you seriously. If you want a more progressive candidate, better get started finding one for 2016.

And understand. Social Security and Medicare exist. The GOP hates those programs. As such, they will ALWAYS be under attack. Obama didn't create that reality, although some (including you apparently) blame him.

The GOP plan to kill those programs goes back to their beginning. And in the 80s, that plan accelerated. Grover Norquist's plan has been to bankrupt the country to get the American people to WANT to end those programs to save the country.

As you probably know from the polls, the American people are not buying into that.

The thing is, most Americans don't know about this Norquist/GOP plan.

And Obama can't simply declare that such a plan exists. As you may have noticed, 47% of the country did not vote for him. Those people are going to have to hear the GOP propose specific cuts to those programs before they might even be willing to consider that's what the GOP has been doing, or trying to do, all along.

The attacks on those programs won't end until the GOP is crushed for trying to kill them out in the open. That's why you see Grover on TV so much these days. He knows his plan is failing. And his opportunity is fading. So he's had to come out of hiding to defend it and to try and scare his side into standing firm on it. Good, draw that idiot out into the open.

And this week, much of the GOP walked away from him, and voted for a tax increase for the first time in 20 years.

Now, I suppose its easy to blame Obama, but the situation is actually much more complex than that. Some want Obama to "take those programs off the table". That fails long term because if the next Prez is a Repubican, they have a good chance to kill those programs again. Its like those who demanded Obama sign and executive order regarding DADT. The next President could have reversed it.

[Enrique]

6. in one thread you begged me to "make a prediction"

why?

You kept talking about "will you admit you're wrong?" Again, why?

All my life, people have been raising alarms when people threatened Social Security, and I never heard any taunting when the programs weren't cut, I never heard any talk about "eating crow" when Bush's privatization failed.

Why are we hearing that now? Because of Barack Obama. The fandom around Obama insists we drop our longstanding political concerns and focus on the personality of Obama. It's become a game, like Yankees fans vs. Red Sox fans, which side are you on?

I would like to emphasize that by the time most of us retire and need Social Security and Medicare, Obama will be long out of the picture.

[JoePhilly]

7. I am asking for specific predictions to determine whether the level of hysteria

displayed has a cogent thought process attached to it. Maybe the hysteria is warranted.

Can the person who is SURE Obama is going to CAVE (and perform some evil act in the process) articulate specifically what the evil act will be, why it is evil, and also provide a well reasoned set of arguments as to why Obama is going to perform that evil action?

Or, are they just ranting?

In the last few weeks, we had plenty of threads in which folks were SURE Obama was going to CAVE. But in most of those, one could not find many specific predictions, or specific rationales.

Early on, some were SURE Obama was going to raise the Medicare Age. When it became clear THAT was not going to happen, the prediction became, "he's going to cut Social Security". As it became clear that was not happening, it shifted again. And generally, it just became amorphous outrage.

And again, who said "drop your political concerns" ... that's a false strawman.

You should be able to have concerns AND also be able to articulate them, with details. And, if you want to lament that "Obama plans to do X", then you should also be able to articulate WHY you think that, and be able, and willing to defend it.

Or you're just ranting.