Mr. Obama pledged Wednesday to attack surging spending on entitlements such as Social Security and Medicare, and he promised to lay out specific federal programs to cut when he unveils his first budget blueprint next month.
This suggests to me that he's talking about cutting spending. I think that this is probably going to be means testing, but it isn't going to fly.
With people like Furman and Goolsbee making policy, this should be no surprise. And I'll give my consent to any government that does not deny a man a living wage-Billy Bragg
But, again, from where are they getting that? The question and answer that sparked the whole drama seems to have come from the question asked by the WSJ reporter and Obama's answer. The WSJ reporter babbled something about how the real key to controlling federal spending was controlling spending on entitlements, and then asked when he would address entitlements and what his approach would be. He babbled something about consulting with members of Congress and submitting a budget.
Unless I'm missing a quote somewhere -- and I might well be, for the record, I dunno -- he doesn't seem to have said anything about cutting benefits. The transition website says the opposite.
At most, it strikes me as Village blather about entitlements, which seems to be the entry fee to Very Seriousness nowadays, even though nobody ever does anything about it.
But, like I said, I could be wrong. Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
