I'm So Glad We Elected a Democrat, Part One Billion and Five

Hell to the no:

President Obama is pressing congressional leaders to consider a far-reaching debt-reduction plan that would force Democrats to accept major changes to Social Security and Medicare in exchange for Republican support for fresh tax revenue.

What the everloving fuck. That was a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad plan when George W. Bush proposed it, and it's a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad plan now.

At a meeting with top House and Senate leaders set for Thursday morning, Obama plans to argue that a rare consensus has emerged about the size and scope of the nation's budget problems and that policymakers should seize the moment to take dramatic action.

As part of his pitch, Obama is proposing significant reductions in Medicare spending and for the first time is offering to tackle the rising cost of Social Security, according to people in both parties with knowledge of the proposal. The move marks a major shift for the White House and could present a direct challenge to Democratic lawmakers who have vowed to protect health and retirement benefits from the assault on government spending.

"Obviously, there will be some Democrats who don't believe we need to do entitlement reform. But there seems to be some hunger to do something of some significance," said a Democratic official familiar with the administration's thinking. "These moments come along at most once a decade. And it would be a real mistake if we let it pass us by."

Yes, it would be a real mistake for Democrats to let pass the opportunity to unwind all that socialist claptrap instituted by that loser FDR. Why let the Republicans get all the credit for ruining the country?!

For the record, although I sincerely doubt there's any confusion about this outside the White House: All the times I've written some variation on, "I hope Obama is a more successful president than Bush," that did not mean, "I hope he is more successful at DISMANTLING THE SOCIAL SAFETY NET."