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. link

Has Obama refuted that he offered cuts to these programs? Has he ever stated that he will veto any cuts to these programs? Well no. He has confirmed that he has offered to cut "entitlement" programs.

Barack Obama, 7/22/2011, 6:06pm ET:

"We then offered an additional $650 billion in cuts to entitlement programs -- Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security." link

See the word that Obama used. He used the word cuts. What cuts were offered:

Nobody disputes that, except for the revenue part, the administration and Boehner had agreement over virtually everything else. And it was a deal that, like Obama's previous offers, was strikingly tilted towards Republican priorities. Among the provisions Obama to which Obama had said yes, according to a senior administration official, were the following:

Medicare: Raising the eligibility age, imposing higher premiums for upper income beneficiaries, changing the cost-sharing structure, and shifting Medigap insurance in ways that would likely reduce first-dollar coverage. This was to generate about $250 billion in ten-year savings. This was virtually identical to what Boehner offered.

Medicaid: Significant reductions in the federal contribution along with changes in taxes on providers, resulting in lower spending that would likely curb eligibility or benefits. This was to yield about $110 billion in savings. Boehner had sought more: About $140 billion. But that's the kind of gap ongoing negotiation could close.

Social Security: Changing the formula for calculating cost-of-living increases in order to reduce future payouts. The idea was to close the long-term solvency gap by one-third, although it likely would have taken more than just this one reform to produce enough savings for that.

Discretionary spending: A cut in discretionary spending equal to $1.2 trillion over ten years, some of them coming in fiscal year 2012. The remaining differences here, over the timing of such cuts, were tiny. link

Obama is still advocating his $4 trillion "Grand Bargain" which includes the cuts mentioned above. If he is unsuccessful in including them in the debt ceiling legislation, the proposed "Super Senate" or some of the caps that are included in both Boehner's and Reid's legislation will provide the perfect opportunity for Congress to pass these changes while relieving themselves of the responsibility that would be there using the standard process.

The president has taken every opportunity since 2007 to sell cuts to the "entitlement" programs. He has set up numerous processes to move this legislation along. From all indications, he is going to keep on until he reaches his goal.