2008 second presidential debate, in Nashville: on Social Security

Barack Obama: Good health care and tax reform will save entitlements

OBAMA: If we get our tax policies right so that they’re good for the middle class, if we reverse the policies of the last eight years that got us into this fix in the first place and that Sen. McCain supported, then we are going to be in a position to deal with Social Security and deal with Medicare, because we will have a health care plan that actually works for you, reduces spending and costs over the long term, and Social Security that is stable and solvent for all Americans and not just some.

McCAIN: What we have to do with Medicare is have the smartest people in America come together, come up with recommendations, and then, like the base-closing commission idea we had, then we should have Congress vote up or down.

John McCain: Future retirees cannot get what current ones get

We are not going to be able to provide the same benefit for present-day workers that present-day retirees have today. We’re going to have to sit down across the table, Republican and Democrat, as we did in 1983 between Ronald Reagan and Tip O’Neill.

I know how to do that. I have a clear record of reaching across the aisle, whether it be Joe Lieberman or Russ Feingold or Ted Kennedy or others. That’s my clear record.

John McCain: It’s not that tough to fix Social Security, if bipartisan

McCAIN: Look, it’s not that hard to fix Social Security. It’s just tough decisions. Social Security is not that tough. We know what the problems are, my friends, and we know what the fixes are. We’ve got to sit down together across the table. It’s been done before. I saw it done with our Ronald Reagan, a conservative, and the liberal Democrat Tip O’Neill. That’s what we need more of, and that’s what I’ve done in Washington.