So this is the deal: Obama prepared to slash Social Security, Medicare, Defense--in fact, anything except the bloated public sector unions

With the nation's Treasury poised to hit its debt ceiling, President Obama has little choice but to pay lip service to spending cuts.

And that is how, today, we find ourselves reading this delightful bit of reporting in The Washington Post:

In debt talks, Obama offers Social Security cuts

President Obama is pressing congressional leaders to consider a far-reaching debt-reduction plan that would force Democrats to accept major changes to Social Security and Medicare in exchange for Republican support for fresh tax revenue...

...As part of his pitch, Obama is proposing significant reductions in Medicare spending and for the first time is offering to tackle the rising cost of Social Security, according to people in both parties with knowledge of the proposal. The move marks a major shift for the White House and could present a direct challenge to Democratic lawmakers who have vowed to protect health and retirement benefits from the assault on government spending.

Consider what Obama has already committed to -- or is proposing to -- cut:

• The Obamacare takeover of the health care industry slashed $500 billlion from Medicare to help pay for the new entitlement.

• The states will be forced to find about $400 billion in Medicaid funding in 2011, this time without the "shovel-ready Stimulus" package which picked up about $100 billion of the tab.

• And now the President proposes additional cuts for seniors, this time in the form of reductions in Social Security.

Notice who doesn't have to sacrifice: the public sector unions, whose support is crucial to Obama's 2012 relection campaign.

Even though the size and power of the federal bureaucracy has soared under President Obama; even though federal workers earn double their private-sector worker counterparts and even though the number of federal employees making $150,000 (and even over $180,000) salaries has skyrocketed in recent years, President O'Trumka can't find any bureaucracy to cut.

Seniors, beware: Obama is prepared to slash and burn your benefits -- earned by you over your entire working careers -- in order to give your money to the unions. And he does so because much of that money will inevitably find its way back into his campaign coffers.

Unless the GOP stands firm on the Cut, Cap and Balance pledge, the unions will be kept whole while everyone else will be thrown to the wolves.

Sign the pledge -- and tell your representatives to sign it too

Chart: Heritage Foundation.