On Meet the Press Sunday, Sen. Barack Obama acknowledged the obvious: As the Baby Boomers retire, the Ponzi scheme known as Social Security is going to face shortfalls. That fact isn’t something that the left likes to acknowledge, mostly out of paranoia that conservatives harbor a secret desire to use the looming crisis to kill off Social Security altogether.
Obama’s solution isn’t to cut benefits on future retirees or partial privatization or raise the retirement age. The latter makes sense to me, because lifespans have increased since Social Security was created in 1935. But being a Democrat, he’d prefer to raise taxes. Because he has acknowledged a problem that the left doesn’t want to acknowledge, Obama won’t get lefty credit for wanting to raise taxes. He’ll just get ripped for noticing the problem.
Takeaway: Will Obama’s move on Social Security end his status as the great white hope?
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