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Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill mentions a trip to the White House tomorrow in a Twitter post today:
Early flight to DC in am. Like 6:20 early. Going to WH tomorrow afternoon to participate in fiscal accountability summit. about 4 hours ago from web
Obama Pledges Entitlement Reform
President-Elect Says He’ll Reshape Social Security, Medicare Programs
By Michael D. Shear
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, January 16, 2009; Page A01President-elect Barack Obama pledged yesterday to shape a new Social Security and Medicare “bargain” with the American people, saying that the nation’s long-term economic recovery cannot be attained unless the government finally gets control over its most costly entitlement programs
That discussion will begin next month, Obama said, when he convenes a “fiscal responsibility summit” before delivering his first budget to Congress. He said his administration will begin confronting the issues of entitlement reform and long-term budget deficits soon after it jump-starts job growth and the stock market…
Just a friendly reminder – Social Security is the “third rail of American politics”. And I’ll do my part to keep it that way.
Here’s another shrill person when it comes to Social Security:
I believe this is what we in the professional blogging biz call “trolling,” but I’ll bite. The Left, including yours truly, will create an epic 360 degree shitstorm if Obama and the Dems decide that cutting Social Security benefits is a good idea.
-Atrios
Heh. And Duncan Black is an economist.
of that shitstorm Atrios mentioned too. An article in The Nation describes Pete Peterson’s effort to spearhead the attack on Social Security and notes that “Obama is also playing footsie with the conservative advocates of ‘entitlement reform’ (their euphemism for cutting benefits).”
While I’m glad to see science ruling the EPA again, thankful for the stimulus package and grateful that some of it will go toward creating a much needed smart grid, Obama’s association with conservatives on Social Security and his appointment of Geithner and Summers (and his willingness to take their advice and refuse to nationalize failed banks), not to mention his plan to dig us deeper into Afghanistan, is dismaying.