He could switch parties, spend his billion dollars fighting off Republicans in primaries and caucuses, try to prevail over the Cavalcade of Clowns who have thrown their hats into the ring - which would keep him busy and maybe out of our hair - and meanwhile, we could find someone with real Democratic bona fides to run - as a Democrat.

It makes a lot more sense that standing by while both the Republican and Democratic parties run Republicans for president.

That's it - that's all I've got.  Obama's going hell-bent-for-leather to out-Republican the Republicans, demanding spending cuts is a down economy, and looking to chisel away at the meager benefits most seniors depend on to keep going.

Hey, Harvard, you like apples?

But Obama didn't succeed. Yet. Obama wants to do this really badly (pun intended), and he will be back trying again and again and again.

All those unemployed, under employed holding on by their fingertips until they turn 65 would be shit out of luck.  Two more years without insurance. Meh, just another interest group. F*ck'em.

I thought I heard on NPR this morning that Obama said Pelosi had agreed to raising the Medicare age, but I can't find that in the transcript of Obama's Friday 5PM announcement. He was making the point that he'd made all these great offers to Boehner.

Maybe Boehner is just a bit more savvy politically and realizes that even if Obama offers it, if the Repubs agree they will have a sh*tstorm on their hands with people furious about raising the Medicare age.

Obama is most likely to the right of Boehner, if so!!!

It was an early segment on today's Weekend Edition.

Was anyone here listening? Did I misremember, hear things wrong?

Can't get replay until noon.

BUT -- if it is true that Pelosi has agreed on that, that does it completely. NO MORE DEMS.

From the transcript:

OBAMA: Essentially what we had offered Speaker Boehner was over a trillion dollars in cuts to discretionary spending, both domestic and defense.  We then offered an additional $650 billion in cuts to entitlement programs -- Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security.  We believed that it was possible to shape those in a way that preserved the integrity of the system, made them available for the next generation, and did not affect current beneficiaries in an adverse way.

In addition, what we sought was revenues that were actually less than what the Gang of Six signed off on.  So you had a bipartisan group of senators, including Republicans who are in leadership in the Senate, calling for what effectively was about $2 trillion above the Republican baseline that they've been working off of.  What we said was give us $1.2 trillion in additional revenues, which could be accomplished without hiking taxes -- tax rates, but could simply be accomplished by eliminating loopholes, eliminating some deductions and engaging in a tax reform process that could have lowered rates generally while broadening the base.

So let me reiterate what we were offering.  We were offering a deal that called for as much discretionary savings as the Gang of Six.  We were calling for taxes that were less than what the Gang of Six had proposed.  And we were calling for modifications to entitlement programs, would have saved just as much over the 10-year window.  In other words, this was an extraordinarily fair deal.  If it was unbalanced, it was unbalanced in the direction of not enough revenue.

But in the interest of being serious about deficit reduction, I was willing to take a lot of heat from my party -- and I spoke to Democratic leaders yesterday, and although they didn't sign off on a plan, they were willing to engage in serious negotiations, despite a lot of heat from a lot of interest groups around the country, in order to make sure that we actually dealt with this problem. (My emphasis)

Yup, users of Medicare are just one of those "interest groups." Like the unemployed, disemployed. Like those who want to breathe clear air and swim in clean waters.

Boehner: Negotiable, hmm? O.K. "Mr. President, the 400 B is out!

Obama: Oky, Doky, strike the 400B.

On Medicaid, the differences were minuscule, an administration source said. And the two sides were not apart at all on Medicare, the other health entitlement that has been a part of the discussions.

"On Medicare, we were identical," the official claimed, saying the president had agreed with Republicans on eligibility, cost-sharing, premiums and other facets of the program.
...
Every other major issue was basically agreed to, including raising the eligibility age of Medicare from 65 to 67 years old "over a long period of time," the administration official added.

Other general areas of agreement included extending the payroll tax, extending unemployment benefits and altering the Consumer Price Index on Social Security.

Some of the figures being discussed would cut $150 billion in healthcare provider payments, raise $150 billion in premiums and $125 billion in Medicaid reductions.

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