The progressive Senator from Vermont, Bernie Sanders, today called into question President Barack Obama’s commitment to protect Social Security.

“It is past time that the president told the American people in no uncertain terms that he will not cut Social Security on his watch,” Sander said.

Sanders noted that “during the past four years, President Obama has been largely silent on Social Security. The White House even failed to rebut alarming reports last year that Obama was considering Social Security cuts as part of a ‘grand bargain’ with Republican House Speaker John Boehner.”
Actually, the White House, and Obama himself, kept saying he was willing to make that bargain. And even this year, the White House has said that Obama is still open to it.

“It should come as no surprise that Republicans in Washington and Gov. Romney want to slash Social Security. The truth is Republicans have never liked Social Security and they have been attacking Social Security since its inception,” Sanders said.

“The question, however, that millions of Americans are asking themselves today is where President Obama stands on Social Security. Unfortunately, he has been largely silent on this issue since he has been in the White House and during this 2012 campaign.”

If Obama ends up cutting Social Security, he would be confirming the prediction that the great polemicist Alexander Cockburn made four years ago. “Cockburn passed away on Friday.

He would have admired Sanders’s statement today.

If you liked this story by Matthew Rothschild, the editor of The Progressive magazine, check out his story “Morning Carnage in Colorado."

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