Dear Mr. President.

[Frisbee]

It's nice to hear that you have the backs of myself and all the working men and women like me when it comes to Social Security. You'll forgive me though if I can no longer take you at your word. You also told us you had our back with health care reform and favored the single-payer option. We, the working men and women of America elected you in large part because of your position and promises regarding health care reform, which we so desperately needed. However, once elected, you seem to have forgotten us and the promises you made to us, and now we are left with a system that is still a disaster, and leaves many with either no insurance or being forced into insurance that can not afford. Maybe it was Rahm's fault, maybe it was someone else, but damn-it, we elected YOU President, and expected you to live up to those promises that you made to us. We were counting on you, and you let us down. So please don't be surprised that we can no longer take what you say at face value, especially since the very people you seem to be looking to for advise are the very people who want to destroy Social Security and turn it over to Wall Street. No Mr. President, I dare say you have lost any right to expect us to trust you when it comes to dealing with those issues that are most important to us when you go straight to the lions den for your advisory panel. I hope I am wrong, but it is well past time for you to show us that you meant what you said on the campaign trail and that so many of us took to heart, indeed why so many of us supported you in the first place. This is too important, please don't fail us on this one.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

1. puma?

Or, not.

[BootinUp]

9. lol. nt

[chimpymustgo]

11. Truthteller. K&R.

[jannyk]

2. k&r

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

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[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

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[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

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[TheKentuckian]

16. Apply the tax to all income, eliminate the cap, and then LOWER the retirement age

to reduce the labor pool to force wages up. Worse comes to worse after those steps then raise the tax some.

Thank you and good night.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

18. The last part is not going to happen under any circumstances.

Nor should it. It's an utterly insane idea.

[TheKentuckian]

19. Why not. Not my first choice but I'd rather pay a little more in than take a cut

The employer wouldn't even have to match the increase.

[golfguru]

23. Then SS becomes a welfare system instead of a

insurance against disability and retirement benefit based on
your contributions.

If you are looking for a welfare system for the needy and poor,
I would go for a negative income tax system.

[TheKentuckian]

26. Nothing I suggest creates a welfare system, what gives you such an impression?

[Zenlitened]

21. Social security is insolvent? Says who? By what definition?

:shrug:

[golfguru]

24. LOL because there is no lock box

Every dime of SS surplus has been spent in general budget
and all the SS has is shit load of IOU's from US Treasury
which is flat broke.

[Zenlitened]

27. IOU's, huh? Hmmm... I wonder where the $$$ to repay those IOU's....

... could possibly be found.

Hmmmmmm.

Yep, it's a real puzzle.

:eyes:

C'mon, seriously now... let's not condone theft from those who paid in good faith and can least afford to be ripped off.

We've seen more than enough of that already.

[Ignis]

29. SS is insolvent? Link, please.

[Tarheel_Dem]

6. You won't mind if I ask you to prove this? Link? Transcript?

"You also told us you had our back with health care reform and favored the single-payer option"

The rest is just hyperbolic speculation, but I'd really like to see a link for this particular reference you've attributed to POTUS. Thanks in advance for your clarification.

[archiemo]

7. You can decide...here's a link.

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2009/jul/16/barack-obama/obama-statements-single-payer-have-changed-bit/

[Tarheel_Dem]

8. You don't see a difference between favoring something & advocating for it?

I asked for a transcript where the president promised "single payer", and didn't deliver? Can you provide text for that? If not, I understand. Because I don't believe it ever happened.

[Bluenorthwest]

10. Actually, not that is not what you asked for, the thread is here

to read. The other poster said favored. You asked that he back that up, and he did. Or she. Putting words into people's mouths does not work in type that remains to be read. You are demanding that the other poster prove words you typed. That is a tactic I can not respect, no matter the postion or person it is meant to defend. Just not cricket.

[scheming daemons]

12. "I can no longer take you at your word".... Mitch McConnell... is that you?

FAIL

[Frisbee]

13. Ummm, no, it's not...

He made campaign promises that had he tried to follow through on and failed, I'd be cool with and not criticize him for. But when he changes position or makes no apparent effort, then I have a problem with it.

As for your Mitch McConnell crack, and how you twisted my words, well, that is the kind of thing the right seems to excel at. But I'm happy you seem to be one of the people who believes he can do no wrong and is happy with his performance no matter what he does or doesn't do.

[Hansel]

20. Obama never campaigned for single payer in any stretch of the imagination.

He campaigned on universal coverage but not single payer. He was very clear about that. I think Dennis Kucinich was the only candidate campaigning for single payer. It was also never a secret that he was a moderate even though the media and the right tried to paint him as a liberal.

Obama is not ruling much different from what he promised in his campaign. The deviations are minor and most of the things that haven't come through yet are the result of trying and failing rather promising one thing and intentionally working toward the opposite direction.

You may think he isn't trying as hard as you want him to and that's fair. But it's also fair to point out that he made the promise to change the tone in Washington and reach across the aisle, which is a promise most of his critics ignore, and that he has a goose stepping lock stepped opposition that NO president has ever had to deal with. Giving them a pass on their despicable behavior while focusing nearly all criticism on Obama is to reward some of the most juvenile, power hungry, and craven people ever to walk the hall of congress.

[Frisbee]

22. You are correct...

regarding Obama and Single payer, and I apologize for the error, my memory is not as good as it should be sometimes.

I always knew he was a centrist, and supported Kucinich as long as I could, even though I knew he didn't stand a snowballs chance. I do feel let down by Obama in many ways, but I also am willing to acknowledge he has accomplished some important things. It just seems that sometimes in his attempt to be bipartisan (with a GOP that refuses to be so), that he starts in the center and negotiates to a position on the right side of center. I'm sure he knows more about politics than I ever have or will, but with the GOP as it is, starting in the center means either you'll end up with nothing or something essentially unacceptable to the mainstream Democrats.

I am hoping he gets a second term, and with little to lose since he won't have to worry about reelection, decides to play more hardball with the right. Time will tell.

Finally, thanks for pointing out my error in a civil manner. That is something that you rarely see these days at DU, and is why so many discussions quickly turn into shouting matches rather than intelligent discussion.

edited for spelling

[Honeycombe8]

14. I don't think O was for the single payer option while campaigning. What I heard...

What I heard him say (and I saw all the debates and quite a few campaign speeches and interviews) was that he liked the Massachusetts plan, except w/o mandatory requirements to buy insurance. Hillary's plan was similar, except she and McCain both were FOR mandatory provisions.

We didn't get the Massachusetts plan exactly. And we got the mandatory provisions.

But I don't recall that he ever pushed a single payer plan. None of the candidates did, except for Kucinich, I think. Not sure about Edwards (remember him?).

[LiberalAndProud]

15. That's what I remember as well.

I remember how my heart fell when I heard it reported for the first time. We can agree that health care reform should have been better, but to pretend that a promise was not kept in this respect is disingenuous. Clinton and Obama were about 1/8" different in their approaches, and Obama never ruled out the mandate out of hand. In fact, I seem to remember that he sorta conceded the point during one of the many debates.

[Honeycombe8]

17. He used the term "universal coverage," which I think has confused some people.

He meant that his plan would in the end result in almost universal coverage for Americans. He was speaking of universal insurance coverage.

I remember that the Republicans kept mis-speaking about that, using his "universal coverage" references as meaning he was a socialist who was pushing a single payer plan. But they were, as usual, lying.

I'm disappointed in the plan. I was actually very upset about it at first. But it's not like he welched on a campaign promise. (I tend to be pragmatic about campaign promises. I mean, do we actually BELIEVE everything a politician promises on the campaign stump? I don't. I figure he HAS to say certain things to get elected, but I go with the general agenda he's pushing, and hope it's what I want.)

[golfguru]

25. Why would Obama back single payer when

he was a beneficiary of substantial campaign cash from Health Insurers?

[butterfly77]

28. I seem to recall...

some one saying..."WE ARE THE ONES WE ARE WAITING FOR!"