Source:The Week– President Barack H. Obama (Democrat, Illinois) 44th President of the United States.

“The big news on Sunday was the announcement, from senior White House adviser David Plouffe, that President Obama plans to make a major policy speech about how to reduce the deficit. And I am worried–not about the substantive position Obama will stake out, but how that positioning will affect the rest of the debate about federal spending.

The speech will be Obama’s formal response to House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan, who last week put forward a Republican blueprint for balancing the government’s books. And Plouffe made clear on several Sunday shows that Obama is no fan of Ryan’s proposed scheme, which would transform Medicare into a voucher program, dramatically reduce the federal commitment to Medicaid, and extend the Bush tax cuts.”

From The New Republic

I think if you’re going to be a real Progressive, you have to acknowledge the fact that you not believe that government can be used in a positive way and positive force to bring progress for people, but that it’s funded by the people who receive those services (the taxpayers) and for government to be as progressive as possible, it also has to be fiscally responsible as possible, because it’s consumed by the people who pay for it.

What President Obama is doing is saying that our so-called entitlement programs aren’t run on monopoly money or leaves that fall from the trees, but paid for by the people consume and will consume those services.

To be a true Progressive, you have to also believe in fiscal responsibility, because you believe in government programs and you know who has to pay for those programs.

By acknowledging that our entitlement system has financial holes in it, President Obama is just acknowledging the obvious and trying to be fiscally responsible for the 320 million Americans that he works for.