Sen. Sanders gave the president a good grade for his State Of The Union address. President Obama does seem to have a weakness for buying into the Republican desire to change and kill Social Security and Medicare. There is no reason for Social Security to be included in any talks about possible cuts. Discussions on Social Security should begin with means testing and raising the taxable income cap. As more Americans enter the system, there will be a greater strain placed on Social Security in the decades to come. Both programs will remain solvent into the 2030s. There should be no urgency to cut entitlements right now. A plan to maintain the long term solvency of these programs is what will be needed.

The fact that Sen. Sanders gave President Obama fairly high marks illustrates how successful the address was. This State Of The Union was crafted to appeal to most Americans. The people who despise the president wouldn’t like anything he said even if they agreed with it, so they were never the target audience. The far left will certainly be outraged over portions of the State Of The Union, because Obama’s address was moderate in tone, and like the far right, the far left wants ideological purity, not moderation.