The Washington Examiner‘s own Susan Ferrechio got an interesting take on the president’s thinking about entitlement reform from the one Republican senators that attended a a private meeting with President Obama at DC’s exclusive Jefferson Hotel:

Medicare is the biggest driver of the nation’s debt, Obama told the group, and it’s costing far more than American workers are pumping into the system through paycheck deductions.

“They all think that Medicare is their money, and to a certain extent it is,” Obama said, according to Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., who attended the event. “But for every dollar they put in, they get three back. The American people don’t understand that.” (Emphasis added.)

The acknowledgment was music to the ears of fiscal reform-minded Republican senators, who believe a Medicare overhaul is key to reducing the debt, which by the time Obama leaves office is expected to grow from the current $16.4 trillion to more than $20 trillion. Medicare now makes up more than 15 percent of the federal budget, and the cost is rising.

Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security combined make up more than 40 percent of the federal budget.

It is a refreshing sign that, yes, the president does understand the nature of the entitlement crisis the nation faces. The question is whether he’ll have the guts to say this out loud and correct the voices within his own party that reject any entitlement reform.

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