WASHINGTON — Liberal Democrats broke sharply with the White House last month when President Obama proposed cuts to entitlement programs in his 2014 budget.
They considered the cuts, first and foremost, bad policy, but there was also a political undercurrent as well: By proposing these cuts during budget season, Obama and Democrats might struggle to use their traditional entitlement-reform talking points against Republicans in campaign season.
Politico got U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan’s thoughts on just that:
Democrats have used a clear and potent attack against Republicans in recent elections: Don’t vote for them because they’ll cut your Social Security and Medicare.
But using that playbook next year, as Democrats had planned, just got a lot more complicated.
President Barack Obama blurred the lines this month when he embraced entitlement cuts of his own as part of his budget plan. And Democrats now fear their leader’s tack to the center could blunt one of their sharpest weapons in the battle for the House of Representatives next year.
The concern is that Republicans will have a ready retort — your own president proposed entitlement cuts — and force Democrats on the defensive. The issue is critical to senior voters, who turn out in disproportionately large numbers in midterm elections.
“I think it does make it more difficult for Democrats in the next election,” said Democratic Rep. Rick Nolan, who occupies a swing district in Minnesota. “I would think that Republicans will say this cycle that if you want your Medicare and Social Security cut, that’s what Obama wants to do. … And I imagine that’s what Republicans will campaign on.”
Party operatives told Politico they plan on pushing issues like immigration reform and gun control ahead of next year’s midterm elections. But over the past few years, Democrats have gotten a lot of miles out of attacking Republicans for supporting controversial changes to Medicare (Nolan himself may have benefited from this in 2012, where national Democratic groups hammered incumbent Republican Rep. Chip Cravaack for supporting GOP budget bills).
How much Obama’s budget plan muddies the waters, politically, remains to be seen, but Democrats are concerned that it’s already disarmed them, at least to a certain extent.
Devin Henry can be reached at dhenry@minnpost.com.