Obama claims Clinton won’t admit that on Social Security, there’s “an actuarial gap that has to be dealt with.” She’s too afraid of adopting “Republican talking points” he says. She tries to rise above this, responding that there’s isn’t a great difference between her and Obama on Social Security, except that she articulates, again and again, that “fiscal responsibility” can’t happen “on the backs” of the elderly or middle class. That seems like a good line to me.

—Dana Goldstein

Dana Goldstein, a former associate editor and writer at the Prospect, comes from a family of public-school educators. She received the Spencer Fellowship in Education Journalism, a Schwarz Fellowship at the New America Foundation, and a Puffin Foundation Writing Fellowship at the Nation Institute. Her journalism is regularly featured in Slate, The Atlantic, The Nation, The Daily Beast, and other publications, and she is a staff writer at the Marshall Project.