Dave Walker supports Obama

A Message from Dave Walker

Today, Pete Peterson and I are in Washington meeting with President Obama and Vice President Biden at the President's bipartisan Fiscal Responsibility Summit. Pete and I are pleased to join 130 economic experts and congressional leaders from the left, right and center to discuss—and begin finding solutions for—America's fiscal crisis. The event marks what hopefully will be the start of policy-makers and experts from across the spectrum working together to strengthen our post-stimulus economy and find long-term fixes for a federal burden already topping $56 trillion.

Unfortunately, not everyone is embracing the bipartisan spirit of the president's Fiscal Responsibility Summit. The event's detractors—most recently the American Prospect's Robert Kuttner—have chosen to embrace the partisan stereotypes and failed policies of the past. In today's Washington Post, Kuttner declares President Obama's effort a failure before it even begins, and he makes false accusations about the Peterson Foundation.
I have submitted a response to the Post. Will you join me and write your own letter to the editor?

Kuttner falsely accused Pete Peterson and PGPF, together with centrist Democrats in Congress, of trying to attack Social Security and Medicare in light of current deficits. To be clear, PGPF believes that Social Security and Medicare need to be made solvent, sustainable and more secure, and has never advocated that these programs be "perversely cut" as Kuttner incorrectly states. With some relatively minor reforms, Social Security can and must become a stronger safety net for the elderly, while shoring up Medicare and stanching our growing costs for health care pose far more complicated challenges. There is broad agreement on these key points.
The American people rejected this very same partisan divisiveness in the last election, and it's time to reject it again today. Please write a letter to the editor in response to Kuttner's polarizing message, and show the Washington Post there's more to the Fiscal Responsibility Summit than voices like Kuttner's want us to know about.

The president realizes that fixing a crisis of this magnitude takes support from across the spectrum. As someone who has worked for both Republican and Democratic presidents, I salute President Obama's bipartisan approach. Speak out today for the President's Fiscal Responsibility Summit. And after you're finished, please send President Obama a message of support for this show of bipartisanship by signing our petition.
Sincerely,

Dave
David M. Walker President and CEO, Peter G. Peterson Foundation
Peterson Foundation website: http://www.pgpf.org/