Krugman critiques Obama's plan for SS

[rodeodance]

Forum Name General Discussion: Politics
Topic subject Looks like Krugman's critique on Obama dealing with SS have finally sunk in.
Topic URL http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x4087766#4087853
4087853, Looks like Krugman's critique on Obama dealing with SS have finally sunk in.
Posted by rinsd on Wed Jan-16-08 04:47 PM

Obama told the crowd, "I want to be clear about what the social security debate is ... we don't have an immediate crisis, but we do have a long term problem."

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/16/opinion/16krugman.html?ex=1352955600&en=a87e0ffad19b7b62&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

Lately, Barack Obama has been saying that major action is needed to avert what he keeps calling a “crisis” in Social Security — most recently in an interview with The National Journal. Progressives who fought hard and successfully against the Bush administration’s attempt to panic America into privatizing the New Deal’s crown jewel are outraged, and rightly so.

But Mr. Obama’s Social Security mistake was, in fact, exactly what you’d expect from a candidate who promises to transcend partisanship in an age when that’s neither possible nor desirable.

To understand the nature of Mr. Obama’s mistake, you need to know something about the special role of Social Security in American political discourse.

Inside the Beltway, doomsaying about Social Security — declaring that the program as we know it can’t survive the onslaught of retiring baby boomers — is regarded as a sort of badge of seriousness, a way of showing how statesmanlike and tough-minded you are.