How will you react if Obama hands the GOP Social Security & Medicare/Medicaid?

There are three options, as I see it.

1. Support him anyway
2. Primary him
3. Go third party

I would opt for #2 myself.

I can not support Obama if he agrees to decimate these programs. I don't see any third party options at this point, probably not until after the economy collapses. Perhaps when this is all over and we are at 35% unemployment, the traditional Democratic party will rise from the ruins/ashes, but I am not holding my breath for the Democratic party much longer.

This situation makes me feel so sad for my kids. We are so fucked.

Please step off the ledge sir, you have so much to live for.

Problem is, all we have to go by are past actions, and Obama's past actions have been caving to GOP demands. This is why there is so much mistrust and anxiety over the situation.

and the White House and said that is it not true.

That he's not going to? I've seen a few counter articles but all of them are still fairly vague and leave things open to a broad swath of interpretation. Saying he doesn't want to cut SS but wants to 'strengthen it' could mean any number of things (raising the retirement age, means testing, etc.).

I'd love to be able to cheer up today and read an article where Obama or someone of authority in his cabinet said "Any cuts in any way to Social Security and Medicare are off the table and out of these negotiations. Especially Social Security since it has nothing to do with the deficit."

Please. Give me something to smile about.

A hypothetical question is one asked out of interest, as the answer will have no effect on the situation.

continues to compromise now, as he has in the past, I wonder sometimes, what will 4 more years look like when he doesn't have to worry about re-election!!

It seems he has an obsession with pleasing people instead of doing the right thing!

is being held hostage by the Teabagging Republicans?

Many of us continue to ask the question about providing viable solutions, and the only response from the Obama Derangement Syndrome Brigade is that he made a "pretty speech." Well, making speeches does nothing to advance the cause because the Republicans control the purse strings in the House.

ALL budget/revenue bills start there first!

So, again, I ask, what should the president so when he has no control over Congress (thanks to the U.S. Constitution)?

To this day, there has been no intelligible answer offered.

Bill Clinton able to work effectively with a Republican congress? Isn't that what a real leader does? In the end it's results that matter..........

We have Teabagging *RACIST* extremists NOW in the House and Senate.

Not the same!!!

Obama should be vilified for even allowing this to be hinted at. Even now, he has not come out and firmly stated that SS and Medicare cuts won't happen except over his dead body.

No, he's nuanced. He's cagey. It depends on what the word "is" means. FUCK HIM.

That's purely a fabrication of the disgruntled left and the shit-stirring media. FUCK THEM!

Who appointed all the right-wing hacks to the Simpson-Bowles commission? Who's been leaking to the Washington Post? Who's been putting up trial balloons and cutting out members of Congress?

WHO!? IF THESE AREN'T HINTS? What is? Bill Clinton used to play these same fucking games.

Do you think Social Security is a deficit problem like the Republicans do?

No I don't think it is a deficit problem--BUT APPARENTLY OBAMA DOES. Why else would he hint at SS cuts when talking about debt reduction and debt ceilings?

and he has specifically said he will not cut benefits. He said it in his SOTU speech and his Press Secretary re-itereated it this week.

I will not support a party that allows that bill to pass for his signature.

That is a steel reinforced line in concrete.

President Obama can only propose, he can't hand them anything without congress. If he proposes cuts (other than waste) and congress passes the cuts then we need to primary the entire party. Any yes vote for cuts is a sell-out.

This implies that he has 'no other choice' than the shitty deals he brokers then dumps in the laps of Democrats. At what point do you begin holding Obama responsible for Obama's actions?

See, never being responsible is the pragmatic definition of "leadership" :sarcasm:

If you don't like it, suck it up and primary him.

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That he not implement the very policies that collapsed the economy in the first place? Your kidding, right?

No exuses from me-he has to govern and get things done. We've gotten plenty back in the deals.

Sorry, just not worth it.

that's kind of a broad brush you're painting with.

:shrug:

The Democratic party has been abducted by business-friendly plutocrats dead set on riding the 2 party horse all the way to their lavish, underground, private-security bunkers. Once these programs are touched, there is no longer anything holding together the social compact between a State and their citizenry. (As if there is now). Im am very young, just over a quarter of a century old, and if you think my generation is going to keep paying into a system we have been told will not be there for us, you are foolish. It is one thing to be older, and have one's lively hood completely entwined with the current system, and therefore seek reforms. I cannot blame a person for that. But, as a young person, this system is QUICKLY becoming a hinderence to my future prospects. I am lucky enough to be making 9.50 an hour with a college degree, slicing meat. I know how fortunate I am to be young, and still have my health (if not healthcare). But I am no fool, and am not going to continue to pay into a retirement system that I will never see a return from (if both parties have their way).

If this happens, the social contract will be severed. I will not have my federal tax dollars go solely to killing brown people around the world.

I feel sad for your kids, too.

Because somebody to the right of Nixon isn't as bad as somebody to the right of the Salem Witch Trial prosecutors.
Which is what we'll get if Bachmann wins.

Then I'll make the person who handles Barry's emails wish they'd sought other work. Every Day.

Let's play your GAME & say he does...What will you & those on DU who seem to really want Obama to slash SS do when Nancy Pelosi votes FOR the overall budget deal?

My guess is it will be exactly like Health Care Reform minus the PO, the tax cut extension, etc., where ALL the blame will be put on Obama & NOTHING is said about Nancy Pelosi's support or any other Democrat like Dennis Kucinich who supported HCR w/o the PO.

I love both Dennis Kucinich & Nancy Pelosi & I would be upset with anyone who votes to cut SS benefits...However, what is so aggravating about many here on DU is the HYPOCRISY when it comes to Obama & the fact these same people will have NOTHING nice to say about Obama when he does All the many things we all support! When Obama says he is not going to do anything that cuts SS benefits these people simply ignore him but when Right leaning media say something they eat it up & plaster it all over the Greatest Thread Page. Why these people seem so eager for Obama to slash SS benefits I can only guess.

I sure won't give a dime to his campaign coffers.

I never understood Obama was so evil. I think I know why, but I just don't want to believe it. It's like all the confident Democrats just want to become Republicans and get rich.

and told them I will sit it out because they don't support us. I have written several emails to the president and asked him not to cave. I informed him I would stay home if he touched any of these programs.

wow that's just great. great idea. this is how we got here. that's how we ended up with a house full of republicans and you want to hand the rest over to them. you say there's no difference but there is. the dems are the only one standing in the way of the repubs taking all ss, Medicaid, medicare away from everyone and you want to sit it out. wow that will really "show" them. you know the supreme court is more important than any issue and we need a dem potus to change the make up of that court.

:dunce:

at least show up at the polls and file a blank ballot. That's the only way to vote "none of the above" and it lets them (and politicians do pay attention to how many show up vs how many vote in a race) know you were paying attention.

Besides, there may be some state and local races you'll be able to vote in.

A little harsh there and jumping to conclusions.