# Obama attempts to "modify" the BIG THREE entitlements, I will remove his 2012 sticker from my Jeep! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 23, 2011, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-attempts-to-modify-the-big-three-entitlements-i-will-remove-his-2012-sticker-from-my-jeep/590118 "2011-07-23T23:05:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2011, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-attempts-to-modify-the-big-three-entitlements-i-will-remove-his-2012-sticker-from-my-jeep/590118/21 "2011-07-24T03:28:50Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > I want to vote for someone I like, not for the lesser of two bad choices. I don’t believe that will ever happen. Not in your lifetime or in mine. Or that of any of our hypothetical children. IMHO the nature of the Two-Party state ( which will continue to be for the forseeable future ) virtually guarantees it. You might as well chuck your idealism now and embrace your inner realist. It is a much less stressful way to live :). Meanwhile, at least Obama did just officially dump “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, which is one of those rare campaign promises fulfilled. ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2011, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-attempts-to-modify-the-big-three-entitlements-i-will-remove-his-2012-sticker-from-my-jeep/590118/22 "2011-07-24T04:48:35Z")
> [@Cyclone](#): > > Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid have been Democratic ideals since 1932, and President Obama is willing to play poker with their future? As a lifelong Dem I have stopped contributing to the party, and I am on record that I could be “too busy” on election day 2012 to vote at all! Don’t be absurd. See my link below. > [@Cyclone](#): > > These clowns in Washington have nice cushy jobs that require little effort. Neither party is doing their job. SENIOR CITIZENS, VETERANS, AND THE DISABLED ARE BE **SCARED TO DEATH** THAT THEIR CHECKS MAY NOT ARRIVE AUGUST 3. > > Isn’t there something in the Declaration of Independence about “altering or abolishing” our Government if we are unhappy? Better yet, maybe a Democratic Party primary fight could make Hillary Clinton president in 2012! Mr. President the American people are not without options. Shape up. Be a Democrat. Come join us on Twitter, where we’ve “trended” #F\*\*\*YouWashington with our outrage. It’s very cathartic. PM if you want my Twitter handle. > [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > I agree that Obama is a huge disappointment. Republicans have moved so far right that Obama’s chasing them has also moved so far right of center (because the “center” has moved) to make his credentials as a liberal laughable. This is just plain silly. President Obama is exactly as advertised. He has _always_ been a compromiser, and it’s one of the primary reasons so many of us supported him – because we thought that if _anyone_ could finally get the two sides to come together for the good of the country, it would be him. Unfortunately, no one anticipated the seething hatred the RWNJs in congress would have for him, and the lengths they’d go to _not_ to bend an inch. When we had majorities in both houses, [we actually got a shitload of stuff done](http://reelectdemocrats.blogspot.com/p/major-accomplishments-of-barack-obama.html). But the big stuff was nearly impossible because we didn’t have a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. President Obama can only do so much with what we give him to work with! > [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > I really wish Obama would face a credible primary challenger. Obama talks a good talk. We need someone to point out that Obama’s rhetoric is so much bullshit. I grant that politics is the art of compromise but the Capitulator-in-Chief is so astoundingly bad at this job that I do not think he should be allowed to continue in that job. You’re extremely misinformed. This president has been _outstanding_ at doing this job, especially in the face of all the utter crap he’s had to put up with. His ability to do his job isn’t gauged based on whether or not you got _your_ way on everything you wanted. _I_ sure didn’t, but I don’t blame him. **I BLAME US!** If you want Barack Obama not to have to bend so far to give in to Republican demands, then **give him super-majorities in both houses of congress instead of handing the damn House of Representatives to the Tea Party**. [It’s All Our Fault. This Election, Let’s Not Fail! Re-Elect Democratic Senators & Congresspeople](http://reelectdemocrats.blogspot.com/) ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2011, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-attempts-to-modify-the-big-three-entitlements-i-will-remove-his-2012-sticker-from-my-jeep/590118/23 "2011-07-24T05:08:19Z")
If he wanted to work with the Republicans, he would have ask the Democrats in the house and senate not to stick pork onto his health care package. I am annoyed that Hillary campaigned that everyone must pay in the health care plan, and Obama said not everyone should-until he was elected and had to implement it. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2011, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-attempts-to-modify-the-big-three-entitlements-i-will-remove-his-2012-sticker-from-my-jeep/590118/24 "2011-07-24T05:19:40Z")
Obama has proven to be disappointing in a very serious way, his major principle seems to be his self image and reputation as a post partisan figurehead seems to trump his commitment to progressive (or even democratic) values. Granted, that could just be bitching on my part. But he seems like his main goal is to get ‘any’ bipartisan deal, even if it involves doing things democrats and progressives would not like. Maybe Bernie Sanders will do a primary. [http://thinkprogress.org/special/2011/07/22/277124/bernie-sanders-primary-obama/](http://thinkprogress.org/special/2011/07/22/277124/bernie-sanders-primary-obama/) He is an independent, so no idea if that would work. Obama is light years better than anything the GOP can put up (I’ll take Obama over Palin, Cain, Romney, Bachmann, etc any day). But if the best the dems can do with Obama in the white house, 59 senators and about 260 house members is extend Bush’s supply side tax cuts, or pass a health reform law that while good, is full of methods to make entrenched powers even more powerful by eliminating their competition (no medicare negotiations of drugs, no reimportation, no public option) what is the point of even having a majority? We get to choose between a center right party and a radical, extremist party. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2011, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-attempts-to-modify-the-big-three-entitlements-i-will-remove-his-2012-sticker-from-my-jeep/590118/25 "2011-07-24T05:46:57Z")
> [@Cyclone](#): > > Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid have been Democratic ideals since 1932, and President Obama is willing to play poker with their future? As a lifelong Dem I have stopped contributing to the party, and I am on record that I could be “too busy” on election day 2012 to vote at all! Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are all headed towards insolvency, just like the rest of the federal government. Something has to change–either more money needs to be put in, or fewer outlays need to be distributed. It’s that simple. However, go ahead and don’t vote…and watch the Republicans simply dismantle them instead. > [@Cyclone](#): > > SENIOR CITIZENS, VETERANS, AND THE DISABLED ARE BE **SCARED TO DEATH** THAT THEIR CHECKS MAY NOT ARRIVE AUGUST 3. I’m a veteran, and I’m not scared to death…mainly because I don’t get a check from the federal government. Not all veterans pull retirement, you know. > [@Cyclone](#): > > Isn’t there something in the Declaration of Independence about “altering or abolishing” our Government if we are unhappy? No–the DOI states that “it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish” the government if the government becomes destructive to the people’s rights, which include “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” How is modifying Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, or failing to send out checks on August 3 “destructive to the people’s rights”? ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2011, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-attempts-to-modify-the-big-three-entitlements-i-will-remove-his-2012-sticker-from-my-jeep/590118/26 "2011-07-24T05:50:45Z")
The Supreme Court is far more important than your disappointment in someone who’s done everything he could with the hand we dealt him to play with. First we tied one hand behind his back for 2 years, now we’ve tied them both behind his back, and we expect him to be able to bat 1000? That’s pure insanity. How about instead of wishing for a Primary, you bust your ass to give him a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate and return the House to Democratic control? [http://reelectdemocrats.blogspot.com/p/re-elect-these-democrats-to-senate-in.html](http://reelectdemocrats.blogspot.com/p/re-elect-these-democrats-to-senate-in.html) ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2011, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-attempts-to-modify-the-big-three-entitlements-i-will-remove-his-2012-sticker-from-my-jeep/590118/27 "2011-07-24T05:54:31Z")
> [@robby](#): > > Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are all headed towards insolvency, just like the rest of the federal government. Something has to change–either more money needs to be put in, or fewer outlays need to be distributed. It’s that simple. No, it’s not that simple. Actually, it’s the opposite. [Why Medicare Isn’t the Problem, It’s the Solution](http://www.businessinsider.com/mr-president-why-medicare-isnt-the-problem-its-the-solution-2011-5#ixzz1T01PR6sK) ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2011, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-attempts-to-modify-the-big-three-entitlements-i-will-remove-his-2012-sticker-from-my-jeep/590118/28 "2011-07-24T06:18:50Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > I said PRIMARY challenger. Which would still seriously damage his ability to get reelected. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2011, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-attempts-to-modify-the-big-three-entitlements-i-will-remove-his-2012-sticker-from-my-jeep/590118/29 "2011-07-24T09:52:51Z")
> [@Cyclone](#): > > Better yet, maybe a Democratic Party primary fight could make Hillary Clinton president in 2012! So you think Obama is a corporatist but you want to vote for Hillary. Wut. Then again, you could say the same thing about any Dem candidate. Why bother? The LOTE principle is pretty flimsy. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2011, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-attempts-to-modify-the-big-three-entitlements-i-will-remove-his-2012-sticker-from-my-jeep/590118/30 "2011-07-24T10:26:39Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Interesting. > > Similar reasoning – that the President simply has inherent power to do what needs to be done, much as Lincoln asserted when he suspended habeas corpus – did not have that much traction during the Bush years. > > At least around here. And it still doesn’t. Unless, that is, you think a couple of yahoos with a newspaper editorial you found somewhere represent the thinking of the Monolithic Left of the SDMB. But it’s just too damn much fun to make insinuations of hypocrisy to let the lack of actual facts stop you, isn’t it? Now, to the OP, while we’re all impatient with President Spock’s weak spine (and some of us had that identified as a problem we didn’t have to deal with as long ago as the primaries), let’s not go straight to self-destructive behaviors over it. He’s capable of learning, and shows signs of learning from this experience too, albeit belatedly. We can more effectively protect our progress, and make more, by helping him realize and internalize what We The People want, that boldness is actually a safer strategy than compromise when faced with bold opposition, and thereby make him act more progressively. ---
**Author:** ![diggerwam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/919ad9/32.png) [@diggerwam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diggerwam)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2011, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-attempts-to-modify-the-big-three-entitlements-i-will-remove-his-2012-sticker-from-my-jeep/590118/31 "2011-07-24T11:34:56Z")
The OP doesn’t agree that the big 3 couldn’t stand to be modified or does the OP just not like the timing or rather it be done by Repubs? If you are being honest, you realize that there are no sacred cows and that these subjects need to be looked at. You’d also realize that, at least for me, I’d rather trust a Dem president on this subject that a Repub. I just don’t believe that a Dem president would support nearly the drastic cuts Repubs want. Change is going to happen, who would you rather negotiate the details? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2011, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-attempts-to-modify-the-big-three-entitlements-i-will-remove-his-2012-sticker-from-my-jeep/590118/32 "2011-07-24T11:38:24Z")
Pretty sure the OP doesn’t think those cuts in services need to be done _at all_. Given our historically-low current tax rates, that is probably the case, too. ---
**Author:** ![Bartman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@Bartman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bartman)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2011, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-attempts-to-modify-the-big-three-entitlements-i-will-remove-his-2012-sticker-from-my-jeep/590118/33 "2011-07-24T11:52:54Z")
I can’t say Obama is the president I would most prefer. I’m well to the right of him on some issues, and well to the left on others. But I think he has done a fairly good job of doing what he said he would. [The Obameter](http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/) Promise Kept 138 Compromise 41 Promise Broken 43 Stalled 69 In the Works 215 Not yet rated 2 Anyone who was expecting significantly better, had unrealistic expectations, especially once congress became split in 2010. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2011, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-attempts-to-modify-the-big-three-entitlements-i-will-remove-his-2012-sticker-from-my-jeep/590118/34 "2011-07-24T14:27:55Z")
> [@Cyclone](#): > > Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid have been Democratic ideals since 1932, and President Obama is willing to play poker with their future? As a lifelong Dem I have stopped contributing to the party, and I am on record that I could be “too busy” on election day 2012 to vote at all! Rants belong in The BBQ Pit. ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2011, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-attempts-to-modify-the-big-three-entitlements-i-will-remove-his-2012-sticker-from-my-jeep/590118/35 "2011-07-24T15:17:45Z")
> [@Cyclone](#): > > As a lifelong Dem I have stopped contributing to the party, and I am on record that I could be “too busy” on election day 2012 to vote at all! Dear Obvious Troll, ``` You're Obvious. ``` Regards, D ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2011, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-attempts-to-modify-the-big-three-entitlements-i-will-remove-his-2012-sticker-from-my-jeep/590118/36 "2011-07-24T15:22:24Z")
I have always thought of Obama as an Antonius Pius at a time when the US needed a Diocletian. ---
**Author:** ![Uber\_the\_Goober](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/58956e/32.png) [@Uber\_the\_Goober](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uber_the_Goober)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2011, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-attempts-to-modify-the-big-three-entitlements-i-will-remove-his-2012-sticker-from-my-jeep/590118/37 "2011-07-24T15:53:07Z")
> [@robby](#): > > How is modifying Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, or failing to send out checks on August 3 “destructive to the people’s rights”? Because we’re a nation of pussies who need a good ol’ fashioned _public hanging_ of a _government dissenter_ to give us some frickin’ perspective of the purpose of the DOI. Or even a state enforced religion might cut it; perhaps a tax which would literally take away a persons means of living would do. Get over it people. Things aren’t so bad. Citizens don’t need to invoke the same high-minded ideals that the founding fathers did to overcome the \*relatively \*simple challenges facing us today. We just need to be willing to compromise and stop assuming that no longer having certain government assistance programs in exactly the same form they were when created (re entitlements) means we are being outright oppressed. :eek: It would be quite frustrating for these programs to be significantly changed, and possibly devastating to certain individual’s livelihoods, but certainly not \*\*oppressive \*\*to the point that we ought to be invoking the ideals put forth in the Declaration of frickin’ Independence. God…get some perspective. Read a history book or something. Disclaimer: This post is not a statement of political affiliation or a call to political action - short of motivating people to stop being whiny little ideologue bitches. ---
**Author:** ![Plumbkrazy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f05b48/32.png) [@Plumbkrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plumbkrazy)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2011, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-attempts-to-modify-the-big-three-entitlements-i-will-remove-his-2012-sticker-from-my-jeep/590118/38 "2011-07-24T16:01:40Z")
I’m not happy with Obama caving in to Republicans, but _something_ has to be done. The Republicans clearly don’t care about causing a global economic disaster, so Obama has to be the one to put on his big boy underwear and bite the bullet, even if it isn’t the best way to solve the problem. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2011, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-attempts-to-modify-the-big-three-entitlements-i-will-remove-his-2012-sticker-from-my-jeep/590118/39 "2011-07-24T16:13:05Z")
“Big Boy Underwear”? ---
**Author:** ![Plumbkrazy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f05b48/32.png) [@Plumbkrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plumbkrazy)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2011, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-attempts-to-modify-the-big-three-entitlements-i-will-remove-his-2012-sticker-from-my-jeep/590118/40 "2011-07-24T16:21:34Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > “Big Boy Underwear”? A silly way of saying, “Act like an adult”. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-attempts-to-modify-the-big-three-entitlements-i-will-remove-his-2012-sticker-from-my-jeep/590118.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-attempts-to-modify-the-big-three-entitlements-i-will-remove-his-2012-sticker-from-my-jeep/590118.md?page=3)