Washington Post:

Mr. Obama announced his plans for a “fiscal responsibility summit” next month, even before his first budget is unveiled, “to send a signal that we are serious” about getting the long-term budget under control. These sorts of events can be window dressing, cosmetic exercises to talk about hard choices rather than make them. Yet Mr. Obama deserves the benefit of the doubt when he says that, once an economic recovery is underway, “we’ve got to bend the curve” of rising spending and get entitlement costs under control.

“There are going to be some very difficult choices, and issues of sacrifice and duty and responsibility are going to come in because what we have done is kick this can down the road,” he said. “We are now at the end of the road and are not in a position to kick it any further.” Mr. Obama declined to tip his hand about what sacrifices he envisioned, but he said a commission to make recommendations on entitlement spending that would then go to Congress for an up-or-down vote is “something worth talking about.”

In any event, he said, “Whether there was a commission or not, you have to have a president who is willing to spend some political capital on this, and I intend to spend some.” We look forward to that.

Good luck. President Bush tried to reform Social Security and met stiff resistance from Democrats. Congressional Dems even held a march outside the Capitol, holding hands as Tom Petty’s “Won’t back down” played in the background.

Seriously.