Obama Giving In To Hill Democrats On Social Security Reform?

The em>New York Times< and other outlets report on increasing pressure on the Obama administration from Congressional Democrats and liberal pressure groups not to make moves to reform Social Security. And it looks like that pressure may be taking effect. The New York Times puts it this way:

President Obama is eager to seek a bipartisan solution to ensure the long-term solvency of Social Security, people who have spoken with him say, but he is running into opposition from his party’s left and from Democratic Congressional leaders who contend that his political capital would be better spent on health care and other priorities.

However, the pressure isn’t simply to focus Obama’s political capital where its returns may be highest. It is pressure against taking any action on Social Security, in particular any action that might imply any reduction in future benefit growth. This article from Dean Baker is pretty typical of the reaction from the left. (Also see this piece from Barbara Kennelly and this summary post from Jane Hamsher.) What I’m hearing, for what it’s worth, is that the administration is putting Social Security on the back burner for now.

Here’s my two cents: the fiscal gap is almost entirely caused by rising spending, not by lower tax receipts, and so within the reams of the politically feasible it seems that a good chunk of that gap will have to be solved by restraining spending growth. While Medicare is the 800 pound gorilla of the entitlement mess – I guess making Social Security the 200 pound chimpanzee who nevertheless carries a mean bite – Obama’s health plans don’t include any reasonable reductions in Medicare spending growth (or, for that matter, any health care spending growth) in the near future. Obama had to know that solving the long-term budget mess must include restraints on Social Security cost growth. And he also had to know that many in his own party would resist necessary steps to keep Social Security costs under control. The only question is whether Obama’s new style of politics would involve standing up to his own party. So far, it hasn’t.