There were quite a few numbers being bandied about in the debate last night, but one number in particular -- $716 billion -- came up literally 11 times.
At a certain level, it shouldn't have. President Obama's Medicare savings, which extend and improve the financial health of the Medicare program, are so uncontroversial, they were included in Paul Ryan's House Republican budget plan -- which Mitt Romney enthusiastically endorsed. For the GOP to condemn the savings is to condemn their own agenda.
But this nagging detail didn't come up in Denver last night, and I suspect many Americans watching the debate, who probably haven't kept up on all of the details up until now, weren't sure what to think.
Let's set the record straight. Given Medicare's real fiscal challenges, Obama and Democrats found savings of $716 billion -- over the course of 10 years. How much of this comes from benefit cuts? Zero. Instead, the administration is reducing reimbursements and overpayments to hospitals and private insurers.
Romney said last night, "I want to take that $716 billion you've cut and put it back into Medicare." That means, in a very literal sense, spending an additional $716 billion on an entitlement program Romney intends to privatize anyway. How would Romney pay for nearly three-quarters of a trillion dollars in spending? He hasn't said, but we know the plan would weaken Medicare's already-troubled financial health.
As Jonathan Cohen added, "Remember, he's promised to cap non-defense spending at 16 percent of GDP. And he's said he won't touch Social Security. If he walls off Medicare, too, that would mean even sharper cuts across the board. How sharp? The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities ran the numbers. If Medicare is getting that $716 billion back, he'd have to cut other programs by an average of a third by 2016 and in half by 2022.... That's simply not realistic."
And all of this, of course, is just about Medicare "cuts" that both sides agreed on up until Romney decided to use the same savings he'd already endorsed as a partisan cudgel. The larger issue for voters to keep in mind is that Romney also intends to end Medicare altogether, and replace it with a voucher scheme.
Obama got Romney to implicitly concede this point last night, but I get the sense it's been lost in the shuffle.
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If by "in the shuffle", you mean in Obama's pitiful debate performance. How depressing to watch the President, head bowed, unwilling or unable to fight, articulate, or defend his accomplishments...if he won't fight for himself, why should his supporters??
By all means, let's just give up because the President had on off night.
Because we believe in his values and we are the middle class and he will protect us as opposed to Romney/Ryan. I too was disappointed with the President's performance last night, but I believe he has the right course for our Country - not Romney/Ryan.
Rmoney's "plan" is to destroy, demolish, get rid of Medicare, and if he can, Social Security. That's the republican goal, has been since FDR instituted Social Security, and since Medicare was passed in the '60's.
In other words Romney wants providers to get away with fraud.
See how easy it was to say that? So why couldn't the sock puppet masquerading as the president do that?
Romney was a Large Slow Target on everything last night, just repeating the lies he has said the past 18 months, and all Obama had to do - had he actually been present last night - was answer each spew of b.s. with the facts. How hard was that????
I was not standing in front of a crowd and I felt no need to be overly polite. Besides the truth will come out without the need to get riled up.
Truth: President Obama played it too safe in last night's debate. Being "Presidential" is already a given---when you're the President! If you are fighting for re-election...then FIGHT! Get in, Get down and get dirty. Mitt Romney did what had to do. He was aggressive, assertive and assured that he could not only run over the moderator...but the president as well. And he did. President
Obama missed several opportunities to lay into Romney on medicaid cuts, food stamps, the 47 % comments, etc. I get it. The president has a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" cloud over his head. If he gets "dirty"...he's that "angry black man." If he came too strong, he's "arrogant and dismissive." But, who and what we saw last night was not indicative of the Barack Obama we had come to know. He was not fired up, nor ready to go. That, was Mitt Romney. Sorry to say it Mr. President, but you got served.
Biden won't let the boy wonder spout these lies, and expect Obama to be sharper next time. I agree, it was hard to stomach watching Obama allow those lies to go unchallenged, and the "moderator" was a potted plant. But this is a marathon...
Obama missed "several opportunities"? He missed every opportunity!! The single worst debate performance I ever saw, and I have watched them all since 1960. He would have done better if he hadn't shown up (which is pretty much what he did, at least mentally).
How do you debate a liar? Calling out each lie is defensive. I am willing to credit a large enough percentage of voters already heard Mitt's various pandering lies and will be unwilling to accept today's lie. Offer reality and let Mitt shape-shift to fit the talking points. Mitt has been caught in enough lies for three campaigns.
It would not have been "defensive" to go after that s.o.b. for his lies and put him on the defensive! He was a large slow target and got away with everything.
The first thing out of Romney's mouth was a lie. The total OPPOSITE of what he's been campaigning on since he declared his candidacy. Maybe it was just me, but the president looked shocked in my opinion. I have never seen someone tell so many lies in a row in many a day.
Watch Florida closely. Those seniors are not going to appreciate Romney talking out of both sides of his mouth on Medicare. He tried to claim private insurance is better than Medicare, and only a completely devoted wingnut buys that. So this will irritate and confuse low information voters who have their own interests in heart, it taks an extra jump to accept such non-truths. Anyone who has ever dealt with a private insurance company knows the truth, so I doubt this takes hold.
How can the President screw up the debate the way he did, he acted like he didn't want to be there in the first place, what you just explained in shining light on Medcare is what everyone expected him to say and challenge Romney on all the lies and hoodwinking he was trying to do to the American people. Thundering clouds of Texas! Romney who didn't give an f--- on the 47% of Americans will suddenly want to take care of them, and Obama lets him get away with it like an mature debater. It makes you wonder if he really wants to win this election, or just want to go back to Chicago and enjoy the fruit if his four year labor.
No matter how you try to spin this one TRMS Blog Author the outcome is going to remain unchanged. Romney did his best Clint Eastwood impersonation and out debated the Empty Chair/Podium Obama.
Romney left Obama "pouting" like a little child with almost every debate argument the two engaged in.
Romney gave the President an hour and a half "Time Out" on national TV last night. Now go sit down in your "Empty Chair Barack and keep quiet".
Romney certainly won on style points, I'll give him that. Clearly it showed on President Obama's face how frustrating it is to debate a man who changes his position/plan every day. Romney just looked at Obama and said "that's not my position" and in all but one case that I recall, Obama let it ride. Perhaps it was the debate platform too but it wasn't Obama's best night. There are more debates to come and he's a quick study. I'm not worried that this debate was a decisive turnaround for the Romney camp.
When a candidate like Romney can make it up as he goes along anyone who feels obliged to live in the real world will have a disadvantage. Romney lied or mislead but, like a sociopath, he lied convincingly.
Romney only hoped he lied convincingly. Even my local Fl. paper had fact check along with the debate answers. This paper somehow missed the 47% speech but had actual reporting on the debate.
You can't be surprised by the idea that Romney wants to make across the board cuts. He is essentially making the case for completely gutting the Federal Government and leaving it with no other responsibility than Defence. What that will do is default everything back to the states who will have no choice but to raise taxes in drastic ways making them incredibly unpopular and necessatating the shift from public to private managment of tthe services that the states can't manage, making the private sector the primary beneficiaries by giving them all of the functions of the federal programs that he has eliminated.
This has also become part of the the track of the right wings strategy that things like Abortion are best attacked on a state by state basis. Given that the Republican base has effectively become distilled down and concentrated in about a dozen states its their best chance for advancing their agenda.
I get the sense that Obama is playing a bit of "Rope a Dope"
Drawing Romney and the pundits into thinking he is weak.
And tomorrow the president will give us all ponies. What an idiot thought. You don't play that game at this point.
Why are we not talking about how Romney still has no understanding of programs like Medicare, Medicaid, etc. and why families have to turn to them. He just kept calling those families "poor" people last night. It scares me that he cannot even contemplate a world where something horrific happens and you may not have anywhere else to go to provide the basics of food and shelter to your children. As a "welfare" child and daughter of a disabled Navy Veteran it sickens and scares me. Who is going to be there for the kids who can't provide for themselves???
What I heard Romney say last night paraphased was this: "Seniors on Medicare there will be no change in your benefits. Those almost on Medicare will have a choice between Medicare and vouchers and it will be a better option than seniors today get...or something." My question was if his option is so awesome, why wouldn't it be available for Seniors currently on Medicare? And if the current Medicare is so awesome, why would today's Seniors want that to change for their children? It seems to me that the very cynical (and very Republican) calculation is that Seniors only care about themselves and their kids are on their own.
Though I believe Obama was not at his best last night, I am truly baffled by the narrative that Romney won. The amount of lying and bullying was breath taking. My impressions were way different than the narrative.
Here's the big problem with vouchers - medicare can negotiate because of their large block of participants. Once that block becomes diluted, their negotiating power will evaporate. One of the main reasons docs & hospitals accept Medicare patients (despite the discounted payments) is because such a large percentage of the populace participates in Medicare. More importantly, we all know that private companies will factor in a profit margin. If profit becomes the overriding goal, how will the voucher plan improve things for seniors? It flat out won't work.
Your points on the Medicare issue are good, Monica, and I share your baffledom that Romney won. But it was style over substance. Informed voters who've been paying attention for 6 months or more know that in substance, Obama was superior. But that wasn't the target audience for Mitt; he is trying to get votes form those who haven't been paying enough attention, who decide based on sound bites and form rather than thinking of how one's polcies will actually affect them.
I continue to have faith that moderates and independents will vote for Obama or possibly stay home. Romney may have picked up a few supporters last night, but not those make their choice based on issues and policy.
And might I add who is also a successful contributing member of society with a College Degree ... thanks to those Pell Grants!
Of all of Obama's "F" grade performance last night, this was the worst. All he had to do was point out that Paul Ryan did the same thing in his budget.
Whoever it was who advised him to go out and stand there like a punching bag should be taken out and strung up. I suspect it was the Moron Twins, Plouffe and Axelrod, our "greatest political geniuses ever" (NOT)
I would've liked to have seen a response on Romney's charge that the cuts to Medicare will result in a reduction of doctors and hospitals that accept Medicare. I thought that made reasonable sense as an argument. It's Romney so I don't know if there is any actual truth to it. Whether that has a lick of truth to it or not, a voucher program is not the answer.
Looking forward to the VP debate and hoping Obama makes a better show next time.
Either Romney really believes the stuff he spouted last night (which means that he's stupid beyond belief) or he is really willing to say ANYTHING, and EVERYTHING just to get elected. He must plan to be a one term president, unless he plans to take the vote away from everyone except rich old white men.
Everyone keeps talking how well Mitt did and how the president was not fighting strong enough. But the truth is Mitt lies with every breath he takes. So what Mitt looked good and he spoke well if he does not speak the truth. Obama acted like a gentleman and told the truth. What did everyone expect, sorry, Obama is not an actor but he is honest and has done more then any president that ever lived. In the 4 years he has been here he has been hit with so many different catastrophes, and still manages to get people America working with no help from the republicans. Quite frankly republicans make me sick. Don't vote for a president (very good actor) that outsources your job.
I would like to think the President's performance last night was a brilliant, strategic move to divert RNC and Republican Pac funds away from the Senate and congressional races where they could have had an impact back into the Romney campaign where they will do absolutely no good. When President Obama cleans Romney's clock in round 2, it will be too late for the Republicans to redistribute their wealth effectively.
Medicare currently represents a losing equation for young and old, seniors and taxpayers. Medicare is spending taxpayers’ money faster than any other government program. It is facing insolvency in its hospitalization program, and it is generating trillions of dollars of massive long-term debt.
Congress and the American people will have to make a choice. Medicare’s current course is disastrous, for seniors and taxpayers alike. There are finite resources available to reverse the current course, but the faster that policymakers act, the less difficult the task will be.
There is a better alternative. That alternative rests in harnessing the market forces of choice and competition, and making them the centerpiece of reform, while targeting aid to those who need it most.