Until directed to various excellent sources on the matter declaring President Obama's budget proposal is an outright bluff; he knows it's DOA but wants to use the virtual certainty of GOP rejection to break them on the tax issue. Another measure of safety comes via Democratic legislators' vehement objections; most of them want to remain in Congress, too. The gigantic roar against chained CPI should make them think twice before rolling over on us.
Even if worse came to worse, the chained CPI could potentially provide a better safety net under the poorest and most elderly than what they receive now, with so few COLA increases. It would begin on a very modest scale and at least supposedly could be tweaked upward at a later time. Of course this would only happen with a strong Democratic majority in both Senate and House. DINO's don't count. So people might be especially wise to vote in real liberals ASAP.
President Obama's miscalculation, if indeed this is one, more likely lies in any false confidence he might've had in his own base to see these matters better than the GOP sheeple. From what I've seen of him, my personal best guess suggests he might be willing to sacrifice something of himself if this (risky?) chess move fails, and that it might be worth it to him regardless as it certainly would to us if it succeeds in destroying the conservatives' ability to wreck havoc.
Whether they like him or not, most people admit he's a brilliant strategist. Surely he knew how the country would react, and if I'm right about him, he expected and wanted this outcry. I sign every petition I can find against this chained CPI, and I write letters to newspapers urging others to do so but also asking people to consider this alternate interpretation. People who hate him will change their hearts when hell freezes over; those of us who don't should look deeper and think twice before defecting.
Wouldn't the GOP just love that? We want them to splinter and start a 3rd or even 4th party, historically doomed. We need to stick together for once. I'd like to think we're a little less suicidal than the opposition.
PS: Here's an RFK quote that should help calm queasy stomachs:
"Few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality of those who seek to change a world which yields most painfully to change." Robert F. Kennedy
= new reply since forum marked as read
why worry like it's a career?
and forgot bread!
