On Contradiction, Or, Will Obama Lose An Argument With Himself?"... (ALERT!)

[KoKo]

On Contradiction, Or, Will Obama Lose An Argument With Himself?
by: fake consultant
Sun Jan 16, 2011 at 17:20


There have been many unlikely things that have happened this past month or so: some of them appearing as legislation, some of them appearing in the form of Republicans who set new records for running away from the words they used to get elected-and some of them appearing in the markets, where, believe it or not, many Europeans finds themselves wishing for our economic situation right about now.

There are even improbable sports stories: our frequently hapless Seattle Seahawks, the only team to ever make the NFL Playoffs with a losing record, are today preparing to knock the Chicago Bears out of their bid to play in the Super Bowl, having crushed the defending holders of the Lombardi Trophy just last week before the 12th Man in Seattle.

But as improbable as all that is, the one thing I never thought I would see is Barack Obama getting into a political argument with himself over Social Security-and then losing the argument.

Even more improbably, it looks like there's just about a week left for him to come to a decision...and it looks like you're going to have to help him make up his mind.


So we'll keep this all just between you and me, but I've been hearing a few things this past week, and I figured we'd start by filling you in on the inside dirt:
The State of the Union address is coming up fast (January 25th, in fact); obviously Social Security could become a hot topic during the speech. If it does, here's what's potentially going to occur:

--The President will announce a spirited defense of the program, and tell the world that he will not support any cuts in your benefits, and that we'll clear up the funding issues by raising the cap on the payroll tax.

--He'll announce that he has decided to support cutting your benefits by backing proposals that would again raise the retirement age and would cause the annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) to go up by less than the actual cost of living...which is just another way of sneaking in a cut to your eventual benefits.

I'm told that option number one is the least likely of the two...which is something you might not expect-especially if you were paying attention to what Obama was saying about Social Security when he was out looking for our votes in 2007 and 2008.

Here's a good example: in November of 2007 he appeared on "Meet the Press" (Clips from Transcript follows at the Link) THERE's *MUCH MORE* OF: "Something "Wicked this Way Comes?" (My Quotes) at......

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EDITED: This was a hard one to post....so had to do some "after posting editing," for some kind of clarity...such as it is.

[KoKo]

1. Kick...because the editing makes it clearer....so another try. n/t

[Jackpine Radical]

2. I don't think he'll say anything actually revelatory in the SOTU

But I do think he's gonna do a #2 on SS a little later.

[Demeter]

3. #2 as in Scatology?

Wouldn't surprise me in the least.

[Jackpine Radical]

5. You got my little joke.

Always gratifying when that happens.

[pa28]

4. His statements on the topic were crystal clear prior to election.

No cuts. Raise the cap.

Maybe it's the trial balloons, maybe it's the President's disturbing habit of giving ground too easily but I'll take the author's advice and call or write the White House.

K&R

:dem: