Joe Scarborough Salutes Obama For Talking Entitlements, But Can’t Be Reformed With ‘Gun To The Head’

Joe Scarborough discussed the ongoing debt ceiling negotiations with the Morning Joe crew, and although he was pleased to learn that President Obama seemed serious about reforming entitlement programs, he doubted such a goal was realistic given how little time now remains to get a deal done. Willie Geist agreed, wondering why in Washington it always seems nothing can get done until there is a moment of a crisis?

Scarborough explained why Obama should consider supporting a short-term extension on increasing the debt ceiling beyond August 2nd:

“The problem is that when you rush into wars like Iraq, when you rush into bailouts like TARP . . . it’s just like the government shutdown, they rush to a deal and suddenly a $38 billion cut you find out two months later becomes a $7 billion cost to taxpayers. . . . You can’t transform seventy year programs in three weeks. Again – I agree with you – we have got to reform Social Security and Medicare to save it. You don’t do it though with a gun to your head, with the clock ticking.”

And when Scarborough repeatedly suggested “I salute the Democratic President” for talking about entitlements, Mika Brzezinski perceptively and humorously warned her co-host “do not go on Twitter today!” Yet Mike Barnicle strangely got serious and concluded maybe if Democrats and Republicans talked to a soldier who actually had a gun held to his head that maybe that would get everyone to agree? Well, maybe such an awkward and crazy idea shouldn’t be dismissed so quickly, because at this point nothing seems able to move the negotiations along.

Watch the clip from MSNBC below:

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