Throw Grandma From The Gravy Train
by digby
It’s little short of suicidal to drop a Medicare reform package—even a voucher plan that would be optional for those currently older than 55—into tough budget negotiations stymied over Republican demands for deep spending cuts. Democrats have some experience with older voters going ballistic, even with changes that wouldn’t affect them.
For many seniors, doing anything to Medicare that can’t be portrayed as an increase is essentially a cut, and they will fight it to their last breath. From a political standpoint, Medicare reform is very dangerous territory. House Republicans are not just pushing the envelope—they are soaking it with lighter fluid and waving a match at it.
Charlie Cook
So much for that.They just got some major cover::
President Obama will lay out new plans this week to reduce the federal deficit in part by seeking cuts to government programs for seniors and the poor, a top political adviser said Sunday, adding that Americans expect both sides to work together.
“You’re going to have to look at Medicare and Medicaid and see what kind of savings you can get,” Obama adviser David Plouffe said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
The presidential speech on Wednesday will come during a week in which official Washington pivots from a painful standoff over this year’s budget to next year’s and beyond, focusing on competing plans to shore up the nation’s fiscal health in the long term.
To be fair, Plouffe also said you’d have to squeeze the system before you squeeze seniors, but I’m not sure that’s the kind of messaging that will bring seniors and near seniors much comfort in this environment. The takeaway here is that the elderly will have a choice between voting for that (black) socialist who tried to pull the plug on grandma once already and wants to do it again and that nice young man Paul Ryan who assured them he would never hurt them. I wonder who they’ll choose?
Obama must really, really want that “go to China” moment on the safety net. He had a chance to secure the elderly vote for the Democrats for a decade.
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