Based on everything we've seen so far, I remain a Carly Fiorina fan. But in the annals of nonsensical answers to basic policy questions, it's hard to top this one on entitlement reform. Tell me again, Carly, why you don't want to deal with it now?
I'm really trying hard to follow the logic here, because Fiorina is not dumb, and does not make it a practice to duck difficult questions. But . . . "The government has to get its house in order before it goes to the American people and takes something away from them."
What?
If the idea is that the government can't just run itself in a completely reckless manner in every other respect, while telling seniors and the poor they have to give up their entitlement benefits, OK. I can see that. But why does that preclude a discussion of what the solution might be? I get her point that people often talk about solutions but they never actually get implemented. But the problem with that equation is not that the ideas are proposed. It's that the people who propose them never bring them to fruition.
It's fine for a President Fiorina to first whip the rest of the federal government into shape and then come to the people and say, OK look, we've done the relatively easy part but now we can't put off deal with entitlements, because that's where the big-money problems are. That's fine. But what's wrong with telling us now how she would fix it once the time is right?
The simple fact is this: Until entitlements are fixed, the federal government can't get its house in order. It's more than half the federal budget and that's only going to grow. The rest is low-hanging fruit, and there's nothing wrong with starting there. But there's a lot wrong with stopping there, which is the best the political class is generally willing to do. You're not going to get the federal government straightened out by attacking "waste, fraud and abuse." You need to fix entitlements.
Would Carly Fiorina be willing to do that as president? I want to believe. A better answer than this would help.
Based on everything we've seen so far, I remain a Carly Fiorina fan. But in the annals of nonsensical answers to basic policy questions, it's hard to top this one on entitlement reform. Tell me again, Carly, why you don't want to deal with it now?
