I miss Obama Press conf.

[nmbluesky]

I want to know about S.S.? what does his plan?

[NYC_SKP]

1. Nothing new of substance, still forced to find compromise solutions...

...but I didn't hear anything that tells us anything new.

Others may differ.

[gateley]

4. What I heard different was Pelosi beforehand, saying they

were supporting him and there would be no cuts to SS or Medicare recipients, so he must have agreed to that.

Could be that was never in his plan anyway and we just went off the rails on it. Hard to imagine, huh. :7

:hi:

[NYC_SKP]

6. Huh, indeedy!

:hi:

[Dept of Beer]

10. Could be...maybe.

Could be that they understood there wasn't a shred of it being accepted by the base.

I have learned over the years that unless you have a signed agreement on a position that a person's word is useless.

It is not contractual in any way.

[elleng]

2. DU running thread.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1495597

[gateley]

3. Honestly, I didn't hear what he said about that, but Pelosi

said moments before that the Dems were "backing the President" and that no cuts to SS or Medicare recipients would be part of the deal.

So, it SOUNDS as though he's given them reassurances, otherwise they wouldn't have gotten on board.

I'm sure it's up on the WH site -- it was a good presser and worth watching. I don't know if the WH feed will include the questions afterward, but I hope so. I wouldn't mind listening to the whole thing again and REALLY paying attention this time.

[Johonny]

5. He supports domestic cutting

He supports ideas of the Simpson committee (Which never agreed on anything), he is fighting hard for progressive programs like medicare and social security. He was very vague like there are a lot of deals on the table and he is pressing one way, but willing to give in other ways if it means a deal. He was very politician like today:)

[originalpckelly]

7. When specifically asked if raising the retirement age and means testing were on the table...

he said they had been considered.

He also wants to cut the payroll taxes that pay into SS and Medicare. Which, if you actually think the programs have solvency issues, is not what you'd be doing.

[fascisthunter]

8. Please, please do not cut SS, etc.

[Poll_Blind]

9. At least means testing and raising retirement age are still on the table. The President...

...was explicit about that, and although he confirmed that raising the retirement age was one the table, he refrained from actually saying those words out loud, choosing instead to confirm several times to the reporter that the two possibilities (raising age + means testing) were still "in play".

I just don't think he wanted a soundbyte of him saying that raising the retirement age was something he'd get behind.

I wonder what else is on the table?

PB