For all the talk of Republicans at each other’s throats and the party facing some existential cliff, the Democrats have an even bigger problem:
Fiscal Reality.
The reality is that our current path is not sustainable, and entitlements are eating everyone’s free lunch.
Hence, Obama is signaling he may give a little (just a little) on entitlements, and Nancy Pelosi is mouthing the words as well, Pelosi open to looking at Obama proposal to cut Social Security
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday that she’ll coinsider Social Security cuts as part of a sweeping deficit-reduction package.Ahead of a meeting between President Obama and House Democrats, Pelosi said moving to a less generous formula for adjusting Social Security benefits to inflation — if it protects the most vulnerable Social Security beneficiaries — might be preferable to other entitlement cuts Republicans are urging, like raising Medicare’s eligibility age.
Already the alarms are going off, via Greg Sargent, Liberals to Dem leaders: Don’t even think about touching Social Security benefits:
The sharp language from Ellison, Sanders and other liberals shows that Obama and Dem leaders will face a stiff headwind from the left if they stray too far on to “grand bargain” territory. The endgame here, however, remains murky. If Obama and Dem leaders do reach some kind of deal with Republicans in the Senate, some liberals might support it in the end if the President asks them to, just as liberals have previously proven willing to give away core priorities to advance his agenda. Or a deal might simply pass without liberals. Wherever this is headed, for progressives who want to make their opposition to any “grand bargain” benefits cuts known, the time is now.
The left-wing of the Democratic Party loves to refer to itself as the “reality-based community.” In fact, it is the fantasy-based community, living in a fiscal la la land.
La la land is about to meet Fiscal Reality. If Obama and Democratic leaders give in to reality, it will demoralize and infuriate the Democratic Party base even more than the Obama tax increase of 2012-2103 did the same to Republicans.
The image of a unified Democratic Party is erroneous.
The only thing that holds Democrats together is loyalty to Obama. I wonder if that will be enough as he builds his own party apparatus via OFA and rides off into the sunset over Hole 18.
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