Dear President Obama,

We get that the Republican Party wants to end Medicare and Social Security. We understand that theirs is the party of every man, woman and child for him/herself.  But we thought you were a Democrat and, as such, believed in our country’s social safety net, at the very least.  According to a NY Times story that greeted us this morning, that’s now in question:

Mr. Obama, who is to meet at the White House with the bipartisan leadership of Congress in an effort to work out an agreement to raise thefederal debt limit, wants to move well beyond the $2 trillion in savings sought in earlier negotiations and seek perhaps twice as much over the next decade, Democratic officials briefed on the negotiations said Wednesday.

The president’s renewed efforts follow what knowledgeable officials said was an overture from Mr. Boehner, who met secretly with Mr. Obama last weekend, to consider as much as $1 trillion in unspecified new revenues as part of an overhaul of tax laws in exchange for an agreement that made substantial spending cuts, including in such social programs as Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security — programs that had been off the table.

Seriously Mr. President?  It was bad enough that you didn’t fight for real health care reform by way of a single payer system (aka Medicare for All!), let alone a simple public option (like allowing us to buy in to Medicare if we want to), and that instead of ending the insanity in Afghanistan you doubled down on a senseless war.

We know that you promised to let the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans expire, but then extended them for another two years.  We know you’ve done some good, but you’ve also made way too many mistakes.

We know you’re a lousy negotiator… but to offer up cuts that will decimate our social safety net is just plain wrong and goes against everything we, as true patriots who care about our fellow citizens, stand for.

If you go through with any deal that imposes cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and/or Social Security, you will have completely lost me – my support, my encouragement, and my vote.

I host a radio program.  On today’s show (which you can hear by clicking the play button atop this post), I spoke of this issue with David Dayen (who does pretty great news coverage for FireDogLake.com), The Nation‘s Katrina vanden Heuvel, and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee‘s T. Neil Sroka.

I continued the discussion -and attempted to get a bit of inspiration – in the second hour with the wonderful Van Jones who is now spearheading a new movement – Rebuilding The American Dream, and comedian John Fugelsang.

Needless to say, I’m still mad as hell.

You just gave a quick statement during Jay Carney’s press briefing.  When I say quick, I mean quick.

Unfortunately, you didn’t say anything new, or reassure us that you’re not about sell out the future of our country and the party you claim to be a part of.

Please Mr. President, do the right thing. No cuts to Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security.

Thank you,
Nicole Sandler