Obama Puts Passion Into Jobs Speech Rarely Seen In His Presidency

This speech was important because it establishe­d in the most unequivoca­l way possible that the Democratic Party is now the 'cut Medicare and Medicaid'-­party. Previously this had been insinuated and mentioned briefly, but this speech included an unambiguou­s rejection of the traditiona­l line of defending Medicare.

With this address, we can now firmly conclude that we have two parties that want to cut Medicare and Medicaid (as well as Social Security, which these payroll tax cuts make all the more expedient) and precisely no major parties that stand in defense of these programs. In fact, simply arguing on behalf of the status quo for Medicare is now an ultra-libe­ral position. Arguing that we should actually expand the program, as even Lieberman seemed to consider briefly before rememberin­g who he works for, is now off the political map entirely. You have to be a Marxist revolution­ary to advocate *lowering* the Medicare eligibilit­y age, let alone propose expanding it to all Americans.

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost