Why Democrats Must Get Smart on Entitlements

March 1 (Bloomberg) -- In a season of depressing budgetnews, the worst may have been that a majority of U.S. HouseDemocrats signed a letter urging President Barack Obama tooppose any benefit cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaidand other entitlements. That’s the last thing we need.

To hold the line on harmful cuts to discretionary spending,Obama and the Democrats must educate the public about thenecessity of entitlement reform. Otherwise, the poor and needy -- largely spared by the automatic reductions under sequestration-- will get hit much harder down the road.