The entitlement-reform question

President Obama was doing his best to run and hide on entitlement
reform, but his cover has all but evaporated. First, Democrats said it
was OK for Obama to punt on reforms of Social Security, Medicare and
Medicaid because Republicans would attack him if he went first. So he
ignored the recommendations of his own debt commission’s report,
released the first week in December. Then he skipped addressing the
thorny issue in his State of the Union address. Then he skipped the
issue again in his budget. He is three for three. Then House Speaker
John Boehner (R-Ohio) said he would pledge not to attack any proposal
Obama offered on entitlement reform. Still nothing.
 
But now 64 senators — 32 from each party — are urging him to include tax and entitlement-spending reforms in the budget negotiations he has thus far avoided and must now begin with Republicans over the budget for the remaining six months of fiscal 2011. In a letter sent to the president yesterday, which you can read about here, the senators asked that Obama “engage in a broader discussion about a comprehensive deficit-reduction package.” Sens. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) and Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), who wrote the letter, said this year is the time for such ambitious budget reform, since next year is an election year.
 
In my column last week, I noted that House Republicans had been willing to set goals for mandatory spending cuts in their coming budget, that Boehner had extended his olive branch to the president to offer his own plan and that even Senate Democrats were working earnestly with their Republican colleagues to draft a bipartisan plan to reform the tax code and entitlement programs in order to reduce the deficit.
 
Obama has stayed on the sidelines, but both parties are now dragging him into the game. Why did he wait to follow instead of leading?
 

WILL A GRAND BUDGET BARGAIN BE STRUCK BY APRIL 8? Ask A.B. returns Tuesday, March 22. Please join my weekly video Q&A by sending your questions and comments to askab@digital-staging.thehill.com. Thank you.