Tip O'Neill

What would legendary House Speaker Thomas “Tip” O’Neill (D-MA) do, if he were here right now? That seems like an important question to ask now that President Obama has invoked the 1983 Reagan-O’Neill deal on Social Security as a model of responsible, bipartisan “entitlement” reform. But in order to understand what O’Neill would do, we need to accurately recall exactly what he did and the circumstances in which he did it. A closer look at the history reveals that President Obama has a lot to learn if he is to live up to O’Neill’s legacy.

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