The theory has been around for a while: Medicare is in trouble. Not in the way that conservatives will have you believe... It's obviously not going bankrupt, it's not a giant ponzi scheme (or is that Social Security? Hard to keep up...) No, the problem is now with the Democrats. They're weak. They never win. Republicans are attacking Medicare, and they will just roll over like every other time.
Of course, this is politics, and your side always wins some, and they always lose some. On this site, we take the losses a lot more passionately than we take the victories. And this makes sense... It's pretty much the way that most people tend to view politics. You're side wins on an issue, then they don't for a while, then you get restless. And, to be clear, I'm not saying that this is a bad thing. These issues are very personal to some people for obvious reasons. Holding our leader's feet to the fire (perhaps in a slightly more respectful way than some do here) is always a good thing. There are many areas where, yes, Obama and the Democrats are still damned disappointing.
But sometimes we need to take a look at the big picture with a little more attention to detail. And this whole Medicare-in-trouble worry is completely blown out of proportion because of the whole "spineless Democrats" theory. Don't get me wrong: Dems can be some weak kneed motherfuckers. Even Obama, I think, purposefully distances himself at least a bit from the LGBT community, and it is probably my biggest disappointment in him rhetorically speaking.
But still... Medicare? The only reason that Democrats would ever want to weaken Medicare is if all our worst fears are true: they're just completely in the pocket of the insurance industry (who, true, contributed some money to their campaigns). They don't care about the elderly (who contribute a LOT more). People often dismiss Obama's defensive rhetoric on Medicare as "talk, not action." And it's true. But that's because he has no action to take. Isn't that the point? That all he has to do is play defense? The most important fact in all of this, the main ACTION BY DEMOCRATS, has been this: voting completely in unison against the Ryan Plan.
And that has gotten me thinking that, holy shit, maybe the Democrats are playing politics with Medicare... By getting the base fired up about an issue where all they have to do is absolutely nothing. (I realize that this could be compared to the Bush tax cuts, which were set to expire, except for the fact that Obama explicitly promised not to let them expire... For 98% of the country). Some say that Obama is just "posturing" or "pandering" when he says that "I will preserve these health care programs as a promise we make to each other in this society," and hell, maybe he is... But I think it's far more likely that it is Stenny Hoyer and Dick Durbin that are doing the posturing. They buy in to the Republican talking points, sure, but are they actually, concretely suggesting anything? No. They're just being wishy washy... Which is exactly how the "Bad Cop" side of the Democratic party should be in this situation. Obama's and Pelosi's defenses are firm and direct. Hoyer and Durbin are "considering" and "looking at," and I think that is an important distinction to make.
But why aren't Democrats fighting more? Didn't they see NY26? It will win them the election!
Exactly. Medicare won this election, but the next election is long off. There is no need to completely go on the attack yet... Obama is still president, and Democrats still have a majority in the Senate. Voters do tire of issues if they keep getting bashed on the head with them, so there is no need to make it a big deal yet.
Call me naive, but let's not be quite so pessimistic on an issue where Democrats have ceded no ground.
(By the way, if I'm wrong on this, I'm probably not going to be able to show my face on the internet again...)