The debt-limit deal, which strained and nearly snapped American politics, was the easy part. The compromise involved no reforms of Medicare or Social Security, and it had no tax increases. Once again, the president and Congress targeted discretionary spending — about a third of the federal budget. Given the severity of previous discretionary spending cuts, this strategy will not work the next time around.

The bargain addresses a liquidity problem; it does not resolve the debt crisis. Yet this exertion has left Democrats and Republicans winded and prostrate at the first mile of a marathon…

The problem is that an honest debate on controlling Medicare costs — a prerequisite for meaningful debt reduction — is uncomfortable for both parties. Democrats support price controls in an ever-more-repressive system that tends toward rationing. Republicans want to limit costs by increasing out-of-pocket costs for the middle class. Neither side has a political interest in preparing Americans for unavoidable pain. This challenge is at least an order of magnitude larger than anything Congress currently contemplates.