Progressives must be willing to reform programs such as Social Security, precisely because they are so important. The question is how? There are better solutions that the president could champion. For example, we could shore up Social Security for decades by raising the cap on taxable income -- so that it is not just poor and middle-class folks whose entire paychecks are taxed.

But Obama's plan leaves that cap in place -- protecting the wealthiest Americans. Instead of asking more from the rich to shore up Social Security, his proposed budget would take more from the middle class and poor.

Don't let all the D.C. jargon fool you. Some in Washington would have us believe that Obama's "Chained CPI" proposal is a mere tweak that more accurately reflects costs. Not true.

By changing the fine print on cost-of-living adjustments, Obama's plan would ensure that benefits rise more slowly than inflation. That would have devastating impacts on ordinary people immediately upon passage, hurt more tomorrow and get worse each year.

Under his plan, as food and medicine gets more expensive, your Social Security check would grow only a tiny bit. This approach may help the government's balance sheet, but it would hurt your pocketbook and your family. It is not cost savings; it is cost-shifting. To people who paid into the program for their entire lives, it is a cut -- plain and simple.

Prices are rising even faster than inflation on things such as health care, which the elderly consume at a greater rate. The most accurate adjustment for inflation would actually give senior citizens more -- not less, which is what they would get under Obama's proposal. Our leaders should be trying to make life easier for middle-class families, not harder.

Second, we are told that we cannot balance the budget without cutting the social safety net. But we didn't get into a budgetary hole because we spent too much money helping grandma. We have a budget imbalance because of the Bush wars and Bush tax cuts, combined with the economic downturn. Yet the Obama budget eliminates the recent automatic cuts to the Pentagon budget, even as it cuts Social Security and increases Medicare premiums for middle-class seniors. It doesn't make any sense.