A pointed exchange between Obama and Clinton on the topic of Social Security leads to the second instance this evening of the audience booing or ooing one of Clinton's competitors for being critical of her. Obama makes the point that raising the payroll tax cap above the $97,000 mark is not going to be a "trillion dollar tax on middle-class families," as Clinton described it, because only six percent of Americans make over that amount. "This is not the middle class." He compares her rhetoric on Social Security to Romney or Giuliani (eliciting what sounds, to a TV viewer, like boos and whistles). Clinton explains why she supports a bipartisan commision approach, citing the 1983 commision as an example, and seems to be suggesting that this is a parochial New York stance because in her region of the country firefighters and school adminstrators would be affected. Is she making an argument from the New York cost of living? Unclear. The Obama campaign thinks this is a good moment for him, and sends an insta-YouTube (an Insta-Tube?):
--Garance Franke-Ruta