Dems: What Social Security Problem?

Most of the Left had a hissy-fit yesterday after Barack Obama announced on Meet the Press that, if president, he would seek to tax more income to stave off the collapse of Social Security. They aren't upset that he's thinking about more taxes. They're mad that he even admitted that there might be a problem with Social Security.

Once-respected economist Paul Krugman got into the act in a mercifully short post on his NYTimes blog "The Conscience of a Liberal." Krugman chastises Obama for "obeisance to fashionable but misguided Social Security crisis-mongering."

These are people who, generally, can understand that Something Bad will happen when Social Security spending outweighs income and that Something Worse will happen when the Social Security Trust Fund is exhausted. They just don't care right now.

For the Left, Social Security has to be a crisis for another day because if voters start to feel like the government may have trouble cutting checks, they'll be much less likely to support things like taxpayer-funded healthcare or universal preschool or a million other programs.

Unfortunately for those who are ready to say "Shut up about it, already!", the presidential candidates are going to be asked about Social Security. Republican candidates are already outlining their plans to fix the program. And Clinton, Obama, and Edwards don't want to be standing there saying "There's no problem with Social Security," while voters stare at them in disbelief.

posted by Gabriel Malor at 12:31 PM

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