General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Obama: Dems don't get enough credit for willingness to cut Social Security and Medicare [View all]kentuck
(111,076 posts)and we can only know what we have experienced. He formed most of his mature political opinions during the Reagan years, in my opinion. There was a reason he spoke more highly of Ronald Reagan than of Bill Clinton, from a historical perspective. I do not believe he looks at SS or Medicare the same way as older, traditional Democrats look at them. Personally, his defense of these programs has seemed tepid and did not leave me with the feeling that he would protect them if push came to shove. What's more scary is that I don't feel the Democrats in the Congress or the Senate would protect them either. So long as we are spending the funds collected for SS on a defense budget of $750 billion per year, SS will continue to be threatened. I would appreciate more a President that asked for a 7 1/2% surtax to pay for such a monstrous defense budget, rather than worry myself about cutting SS or Medicare.