Wisconsin Republican Paul Ryan’s plan to dismantle Medicare as we know that House Republicans passed earlier this year is by far the domestic political idea of the year, regardless of whether you loath it or love it.
It’s unquestionably moved President Obama and Congressional Democrats to come back with their own ideas on entitlement reform, as the issues of how to contend with the country’s debt and deficit only becoming greater with a vote on raising the debt limit approaching this summer.
But in the wake of Newt Gingrich’s now infamous remarks last week that Ryan’s plan is “right-wing social engineering,” the apt question posed by NBC Meet The Press host David Gregory on Sunday was: would Ryan have the political consensus to get such a measure passed, if Republicans controlled the Senate and the White House, which they don’t at this time?
This article appears in May 19-25, 2011.
