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When it comes to Social Security and Medicare, President Biden has found a way to put Republicans right where he wants them.
In seizing upon the set of entitlements during his State of the Union address this week, Biden found “the sweet spot,” as one strategist called it, when it comes to battling Republicans on key policy issues.
“The speech was written with these rhetorical traps that pushed Republicans into supporting a Democratic agenda because it pushed them to publicly acknowledge they’re not going to touch Social Security,” said Basil Smikle, a Democratic strategist who is the director of the public policy program at Hunter College. “It’s a brilliant trap that was set and Republicans took the bait.”
It also serves as a preview of what’s to come, at least from the White House perspective.
Over the coming months as Biden launches his reelection bid, the president will continue to try to label Republicans as extreme by pointing to GOP proposals that he says would lead to changes to Social Security and Medicare.
“The strategy is a classic one,” said Nayyera Haq, the SiriusXM host who is a former senior aide in the Obama White House. “Show the hypocrisy that goes on behind closed doors in government.”
“Most Americans don’t pay attention to the back and forth of finance structures, so Republicans were using that to advance their views on cutting entitlement spending, forgetting that Social Security and Medicare are deeply popular programs with voters,” Haq added. “Biden put that all out in the open…[Republicans] overplayed their hand and are paying for it now.”
During his address before the nation on Tuesday night, Biden accused “some Republicans” of wanting to make changes to Social Security, the program that nearly 65 million Americans depend upon in their retirement years.
