Alarms Go Off as Obama Plays Footsie with Raising Medicare Age

[JoePhilly]

15. And when the age doesn't go up .... what will you be saying?

The Medicare age is not going up. Obama is not going to raise it.

And understanding the extension of the Bush tax rates was pretty easy. I've explained it many times since it first happened. I even predicted what would happen a number of times over the last 2+ years.

I'll summarize ...

As a candidate back in 2008, Obama made 2 promises about the Bush tax cuts.

1) I won't raise taxes on those under 250k.
2) I will end the Bush tax cuts for the top 2% (those above 250k).

In the summer preceding the 2010 election, the Dem congress could have passed a bill to maintain the tax rates only for those under 250k. And by doing so, they would have helped Obama keep promise #1. But they punted. They were afraid to do it. And they got spanked in the 2010 mid-terms.

So during the 2010 lame duck, Obama made a deal that KEPT promise #1 and delayed promise #2 (plus it also got a few other things, extension of UE, etc.). You'll notice I said delayed. They expire on the last day of this year, which is still in his first term. If the expire or a deal is reached which ends them, he will have kept promise #2.

Now ... you think he should have let them all expire in 2010. Here's why that would have been a terrible mistake.

If he did so, he'd have ensured he would be a 1 term President. If he broke promise #1 in 2010, the media would have called it his "read my lips moment". They would have run clips of him breaking his "no new taxes" promise to 98% of all Americans side-by-side with Bush #1 breaking a similar promise.

Those clips would have run side-by-side on and endless loop. If you check the polling at the time, the middle class was not willing to have their tax rates go up as part of getting those on the top 2% to go up. Obama would have handed the media and the GOP a huge gift.

And so, by delaying the expiration of the Bush tax cuts, Obama also actually ensured that he would ultimately get to keep both promises. The rates on the top 2% will go up, either in a deal or they will expire when we go over the cliff.

Interestingly, letting them all expire now will mean that Obama breaks promise #1, temporarily. But by moving the expiration to the end of the 2012 lame duck, Obama ensured that he'd get to make the decision even if he LOST the 2012 election. So now, he can break promise #1, keep #2, and then the congress will really have little choice but to reinstate the cuts for that 98% under 250k. And Obama keeps both promises.

But let's assume that congress again fails to act. Obama will have broken promise #1, but the media can't use it against him. He can't run again. So he doesn't feel the same pressure, that pressure will now shift to the Republicans.

So now, the GOP flails about.

Or as you suggest, Obama hates us and is going to increase the Medicare age.