Howard Dean is making a (much needed) splash on the chained CPI artifice the President is using to cut Social Security.
From the Governor
If this is true, I may have to become an independent.
The “If this is true” statement refers to President Obama's call to cut Social Security and massively de-value the trillions of dollars that the Federal Government took from millions of workers and placed their wages into the so-called “Social Security Trust Fund.” This is a call-out from the person who most prominently represents the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party.
The Governor's tweets contain the appropriate “ifs,” but it is hard to look past the article to which he is referring.
Obama’s new budget, released today, makes this clear. Although the White House doesn’t advertise this fact in the six-page budget overview it put out this morning, the new budget eliminates nearly all of the cuts that sequestration imposes on the Pentagon. Instead of $500 billion in cuts, Obama proposes only $100 billion, and you have to look closely to spot it (“$200 billion in additional discretionary savings, with equal amounts from defense and nondefense programs”).
Along with the well-advertised cuts to Medicare and Social Security benefits, this is something that should appeal to the GOP. “It’s another one of the peace offerings in Obama’s package to Republicans,” Robert Litan, the director of research for Bloomberg Government and a former official of the Office of Management and Budget, told me.
Business Week Translation: President Obama will not allow sequestration of billions of wasted Pentagon dollars while he sacrifices one of the most important programs that allows the United States to maintain a middle class.
Governor Dean's comments are fodder for all types of analysis and discusssion regarding the state of today's Democratic Party. It calls into question the leadership style of a center-right Presidency and the impact of chipping away at safety net programs that are critical to an ever shrinking and downsliding middle class.
This is also fodder for the question of what is a “real Democrat” or “what does it mean, today, to be a “real Democrat” or “real elected Democrat.”
Please comment on any of the issues this raises. The floor is open. More to follow.
and makes his public complaint about Obama’s budget priorities a little louder than a tweet.
He could make a lot more noise if he feels strongly, no need to scream, although that might help.