Don't Mess with Social Security, Mr. President, or you will lose support in your own party

I'm writing because I'm extremely concerned about remarks made by Secretary Geithner yesterday to the effect that the president is completely clear that "social security is not untouchable politically." Now, this remark is ambiguous, of course, but it is sending the wrong message. If President Obama wants to keep his core Democratic supporters, of whom I am one, as supporters and not merely nose holding lesser of two evils voters, he must reassure us that he holds to core Democratic principles.

One of the reasons George W. Bush lost support among "Reagan Democrats" and ultimately these same people provided the margin to elect Mr. Obama was his tremendously ill-advised and mean spirited attempt to destroy social security. Democratic voters regard a fair minimal retirement income as an irrevocable promise made to us by our government, which cannot be undone. Of course, there will need to be adjustments to funding and I think most voters would accept reductions in very high income peoples' benefits, but the core benefit of social security should indeed be considered untouchable.

President Obama instead should support lifting or raising much higher the cap on payroll taxes, or even making such taxes progressive for incomes above $100,000. Social security has never been an insurance program, and FICA is a tax, not a premium.

So many modest and middle income people have seen their private retirement funding reduced or even destroyed, if the President thinks voters will swallow any reductions in social security benefits for middle and lower income people, he's very mistaken.

With the Republican party increasingly marginalized, the President needs to consolidate and reinforce his traditional Democratic values, because otherwise, his supporters like me, who voted to restore Democratic values to government, will be drawn away to Third Parties and the electorate will be factionalized. I say this out of sadness and disappointment. The President has failed in a number of areas to clearly hew to a Democratic-principled policy. Unless he clearly states that he doesn't intend to allow Social Security to be savaged by the Republicans and their Fellow Travelers in our party, my Obama sticker is coming off the car and I will start to think of myself as part of the Grumbling Opposition within the Democratic Party.

Public Option essential in health care

Robert Reich is right that the public option, i.e., the right of every citizen to opt for publicly administered health care, is essential if affordable health care for all is to be achieved. Only if there is a public system, providing low-administration costs and fair and predictable standards, with reduced costs, will the private health care option be forced to be truly competitive.