May 14, 2007
Obama Brushes Against The Third Rail
For the first time as a presidential candidate, Sen. Barack Obama, posed a question about entitlement reform, said that "everything was on the table," except for private accounts, and in doing so, because the first top-tier Democratic presidential candidate to acknowledge that Social Security deficits could not, and would not, be solved without pain.
STEPHANOPOULOS: You've also said that with Social Security, everything should be on the table.OBAMA: Yes.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Raising the retirement age?
OBAMA: Everything should be on the table.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Raising payroll taxes?OBAMA: Everything should be on the table. I think we should
approach it the same way Tip O'Neill and Ronald Reagan did back in
1983. They came together. I don't want to lay out my preferences
beforehand, but what I know is that Social Security is solvable. It
is not as difficult a problem as we're going to have with Medicaid and
Medicare.STEPHANOPOULOS: Partial privatization?
OBAMA: Privatization is not something that I would consider, and
the reason is this: Social Security, I think, is -- that's the floor.
That's the baseline. Social Security is that safety net that can't be
frayed, and we shouldn't put at risk.
As MSNBC's First Read:
But isn’t he right? Experts say that to shore up Social Security, you either have to raise the retirement age, raise taxes, cut some benefits, or some combination of the three.
The politics? It's tempting to say that no Florida Democrat -- no Florida Democrat beyond a certain age -- would ever vote for a candidate who threatened to raise the retirement age. But emprically, there's not a whole lot of evidence to back that up. It's true that older Floridians have the purchasing power in primaries, and it's easy to imagine the television ads attacking Obama in Miami-Dade and Ft. Lauderdale. But -- will John Edwards or Hillary Clinton have the gumption to claim that they can fix Social Security and Medicare without the options troika mentioned above? And will any lower-tier candidate have enough money by the time Floridians are paying attention to even try? Yes, Dick Gephardt was able to dent Howard Dean's margin in Iowa by pointing to Dean's own honest remarks about the subject, but few Iowans seemed to care on caucus day. [MARC AMBINDER]
Posted at 10:19 AM
Comments
Again the national media missed the real story. Obama in the interview said Social Security will be easy to fix compared to the nearer-tern crisis looming with Medicare. This is absolutely the case.
And fixing Medicare will only happen as part of a comprehensive fix of the entire health care system.
The whole Social Security discussion is a means to avoid talking about the more serious problems with Medicare.
Chuck Miller | 05.14.07 11:02 AM
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That is why I like the guy.
Every time I hear him speak. I feel like he is telling me what's on his mind not some political, poll-minded crap.
Truth | 05.14.07 11:12 AM
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It's probably not as much of a political leap for him, but McCain said pretty much the same thing yesterday on "Meet the Press," though he allowed for the possibility of privatization which Obama did not. Both candidates cited the negotiations between Tip O'Neill and Ronald Reagan.
nctodc | 05.14.07 02:57 PM
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During the course of the present recovery, almost all income growth (after correcting for inflation) has taken place above $100,000 in income. With the cap in contributions in the neighborhood of $100,000, contributions growth cannot keep pace with economic growth.
If in the next recovery, there is reasonable economic growth, and income growth for the large majority of incomes below $100,000 keeps pace with growth in GDP, the "crisis" in Social Security will vanish.
However, I'm sure that the experts know better ... I only hold a doctorate in economics.
BruceMcF | 05.14.07 05:07 PM
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There isn't a social security problem that needs fixing. That's the problem.
Mike M. | 05.15.07 11:09 AM
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Will Republicans have to gumption to forswear using even a cent of the Social Security surplus to fund any general revenue spending? Will they come up with a painful way (and Washington pundits demand that everything be painful) to eliminate the budget deficit next year? Will those same Republicans have the gumption to detail the exact taxes they will raise to increase US Army personal by 100K?
Will Marc Ambinder do a service for journalism and label David Broder for the gasbag he is?
frank | 05.15.07 12:20 PM
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"...everything should be on the table...I don't want to lay out my preferences beforehand..."
"Privatization is not something that I would consider..."
Well, at least everything is on the table and he's not laying out his preferences. Oh, and privatization is bad of course, and shouldn't be considered.
Gekkobear | 05.15.07 05:14 PM
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Is Barack Obama a Muslim? Why is no one asking him that question?
Vi Perina | 05.16.07 08:22 PM
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No, Obama is NOT a Muslim.
Carol | 05.29.07 02:07 AM
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