Back in late January of 2010, President Obama made an unprecedented, televised appearance at the House Republican retreat in Baltimore, where he discussed the battle over health-care reform and expressed hope that the two sides could debate Medicare without using each other’s proposals to scare old people. But in his speech earlier this week outlining his debt-reduction plan, Obama implied that Republican congressman Paul Ryan’s plan would be the worst thing for the elderly since that brief period when Jay Leno was off the air. Whether or not you believe such dire predictions are justified, it’s quite a contrast in styles.
