Obama's mythical great Social Security compromise, by the numbers (Medicare, too!) - OpenLeft

[WillyT]

Obama's mythical great Social Security compromise, by the numbers (Medicare, too!)
by: Paul Rosenberg
Thu Dec 09, 2010 at 19:30

<snip>

Obama babbled, Reagan-like at his Dec. 6 press conference:

Most Americans, they're just trying to figure out how to go about their lives and how can we make sure that our elected officials are looking out for us. And that means because it's a big, diverse country and people have a lot of complicated positions, it means that in order to get stuff done, we're going to compromise. This is why FDR, when he started Social Security, it only affected widows and orphans. You did not qualify. And yet now it is something that really helps a lot of people. When Medicare was started, it was a small program. It grew.

Under the criteria that you just set out, each of those were betrayals of some abstract ideal.

Fact: (Dan Froomkin):

The Social Security Act, as first signed into law by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1935, paid retirement benefits to the primary worker -- and not to their widows and orphans.

1935 SS Act Old Age Provisions here: http://www.ssa.gov/history/35actii.html#Old-Benefit

1935 SS Act Death Benefits here: http://www.ssa.gov/history/35actii.html#Payments

<snip>

More: http://www.openleft.com/

Social Security History: http://www.ssa.gov/history/

:kick:

[leftstreet]

1. Good grief! Who's writing his material?

Somebody's gonna get written up

K&R

[ibegurpard]

2. they've been using that lie to try to defend their healthcare "reform" as well

[Ozymanithrax]

3. Perhaps he read it wrong off the teleprompter...

Oh my patuchi bun frogs, I sound like a right winger.

Oh fucking well. He should get his facts right, or fire the guy that writes the speech on the TelePrompter.

[inna]

5. no, he's repeated that rw LIE several times, and it was debunked every time.

[MannyGoldstein]

6. On DU, it's neither a lie nor is it RW

On DU, it's the truth. Check out my previous post:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x552181">Obama *again* parrots Republican lie on Social Security

So there!

[Ozymanithrax]

7. He should still fire the guy who right the lie...

I wonder if he wrote this speach?

[PSPS]

4. Obama's doing his best to give away the SS trust fund to his buddies on wall street.

Step one: Undermine it by cutting the contributions -- CHECK

Step two: Unveil his catfood commission's "study" that falsely claims social security is "too expensive." -- CHECK

Step three: Go into the fake speechifying mode about "what must be done." Maybe there are a few left who still fall for it. -- CHECK

Desired result: Flood the Wall Street casino with trillions in cash, create a huge stock price bubble, then cash out and move to Dubai. Thanks suckers!

[struggle4progress]

8. Here are the Presidential statements for 6 December

I don't find the alleged quote in either transcript

The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release December 06, 2010
Remarks by the President on the Economy in Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Forsyth Technical Community College -- West Campus, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
12:28 P.M. EST
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/12/06/remarks-president-economy-winston-salem-north-carolina

The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release December 06, 2010
Statement by the President on Tax Cuts and Unemployment Benefits
Room 430
Eisenhower Executive Office Building
6:32 P.M. EST
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/12/06/statement-president-tax-cuts-and-unemployment-benefits

[slipslidingaway]

9. Here is the video with the quoted paragraph, start at the 2:08 minute mark...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ca0n_4oK70Q

[struggle4progress]

11. Oh, but that's from December 7th, not from December 6th!

Perhaps if one is going to hammer Obama for an inaccuracy now and then, one ought to be careful to get facts right oneself

:shrug:

[slipslidingaway]

15. Seems insignificant to get the date wrong by one day in comparison to ...

the history of SS and Medicare.

:shrug:

[struggle4progress]

16. Meh. At 1:30, he was talking to an ambassador; at 2:00, he got his daily

briefing on the economy; at 2:20, he stood in front of reporters and network cameras for the press conference, and he goofed slightly in a statement

You, on the other hand, get to sit at your computer and type snark when he goofs -- and yet you can't bother to double-check whether your facts are completely right before hitting "post"

[slipslidingaway]

17. People can do their own research and decide if this statement is accurate...

"This is why FDR, when he started Social Security, it only affected widows and orphans. You did not qualify."

A similar statement was made on the Daily show back in October ... I'll look past the personal insult for now.

[struggle4progress]

18. They can also decide if your insult "Obama babbled .. at his Dec. 6 press conference" is accurate

I simply note you couldn't be bothered to double-check the accuracy of your written text complaining about someone else's spoken inaccuracy

[slipslidingaway]

19. Did you bother to read the link before responding, if you did then your personal comments...

would be directed at the author, Paul Rosenberg, and not me.

Thankfully, most people can easily dismiss the one day error made by the author and look at the content, which you continue to ignore.

Obama ...
"This is why FDR, when he started Social Security, it only affected widows and orphans. You did not qualify."

[DCKit]

10. I'm beginning to think the (R)s are drugging our President. n/t

[Hannah Bell]

14. i am too. seriously, he's a lawyer. he should know the basics.

[amborin]

12. K&R

[Hannah Bell]

13. obama repeated that right-wing bullshit about widows & orphans?

does he believe it?

jesus, that's bad if he believes that.