conversation? the american public, they re not crying for changes in medicare and medicaid. no they re not. dissolving it, getting rid of it. social security should be under attack. harry reid said weeks ago there is no serious problem with social security. social security and the deficit should not be in one sentence. now, this country s not broke. we re a rich country. what is broke and bankrupt is so much of the debate inside washington. you just had two good democrats on. they see the problems. but until we ve reset the debate and president obama must take leadership and not legitimize this republican narrative, that government spending is tanking the economy, we need more government spending to boost job creation and we need to keep secure the pillars of middle class security and you know, ed, poll after poll shows americans, they re not interested in debt reduction deficit. they want job creation and he are even willing to see increases in taxes to support
our fiscal house in order. joining me now is the editor/publisher of the nation magazine. great to have you with us. thank you, ed. this is another defining moment where the white house has to stand up. why is social security even on the table for discussion? you got me. i mean, you got three pillars of middle class security under siege by paul ryan and his cruel republican budget and now you have a white house which is putting revenue on the table. this is good, talking about raising taxes on the richest, taking on the loaded defense budget, but social security, ed, is a social contract between the american people and their government. it is not a source of the debt challenge in this country. the only source of the debt challenge is not medicare, medicaid, or social security but a broken health care system which can be addressed by taking on big insurance, big drug, and hospital lobbies. why are the democrats even entertaining this kind of conversation? the american public
strength in medicare and medicaid. we got a debate in this country that is completely skewed. i m just afraid that this might take on the path of health care, that universal health care was never discussed at the table. the public option was just a bargaining chip that was never really serious, a serious venture, and so here we go. we ll throw social security out there. the democratic base sooner or later is going to damn near revolt on this. it s more than the democratic base. social security is a program that has brought dignity and security to millions of americans. what is insane politically, bad politics, bad policy, ed, is in a week where we see the attempt by the republicans to gut, gut these programs that have made america strong. president obama is going to muddle the message if he does trot out social security. i think he could come back. he could be the come back kid on this one and say, hey. the real problem is we need strong government price controls in our health care
standards, ed. i think the good part of yesterday was having that kind of passionate debate. i ve got all kind of e-mails today. people agreeing, people disagreeing. whatever. the fact that we are having the discussion makes not only the black community strong but america strong because there is no easy answers to this. i think about jerry falwell and the moral majority back in the 70s. there was a stated agenda. why don t all the african-american groups in this country, the advocacy groups get together and just have a stated black agenda? why not? i think the attempt we had this week at national network and other groups will be having is to do that. and even when jerry falwell and others did it they did it as part of a group in the white community and even the right community. i think when you look at working with the urban league and naacp and the civil rights community we are coming together. some of those who are doing other things are doing things differently. and finally,
that is completely skewed. i m just afraid that this might take on the path of health care, that universal health care was never discussed at the table. the public option was just a bargaining chip that was never really serious, a serious venture, and so here we go. we ll throw social security out there. the democratic base sooner or later is going to damn near revolt on this. it s more than the democratic base. social security is a program that has brought dignity and security to millions of americans. what is insane politically, bad politics, bad policy, ed, is in a week where we see the attempt by the republicans to gut, gut these programs that have made america strong. president obama is going to muddle the message if he does trot out social security. i think he could come back. he could be the come back kid on this one and say, hey. the real problem is we need strong government price controls in our health care system and we re not going to touch social