Social Security, Barack?

I'm with Paul Krugman:

As a policy matter, I don’t understand why Obama would choose to make a big deal of the small Social Security funding shortfall — which may not even exist.

As a political matter, I don’t understand why he would essentially try to undermine the first big victory progressives won against the Bush administration and the rightward tilt of the Beltway consensus.

This isn’t 1992. The DLC isn’t the Democratic party’s leading edge. The center isn’t somewhere between Joe Lieberman and Jon McCain. I can’t understand how Obama can be this out of touch.

Obama has always leaned a bit towards the DLC consensus, so this isn't a gigantic surprise. Paul's still absolutely right in asking why ANY Democrat would question the signature Democratic policy success of the decade. It won't win him primary votes, and it sure as hell wouldn't help him in a prospective general, so what's the story?