On the same day that President Obama officially launched his re-election campaign this week, the GOP unveiled its budget plan, calling for an overhaul of Medicare. But wait: as Rachel Maddow said last night on her show, “The one thing that everyone knows they like, frankly, is Medicare.” So why are the Republicans proposing deep cuts in funding to the government’s healthcare program, and then handing it over to the private sector within the next ten years? The Nation’s Chris Hayes joined Maddow to talk about this absurd political strategy to target a widely popular program.

During the healthcare reform debate, the GOP accused Democrats of attempting to gut Medicare. Now that they’ve caught the austerity bug, they’ve have changed their tune on Medicare as well. According to Hayes, the real danger will come if the Democratic party engages with the Republicans on Medicare cuts, rather than just calling them out on their ridiculous proposal.

“The only way that the Republicans are not destroyed politically on this is if the White House gives them cover for it,” Hayes says. “If the White House basically says ‘We’re going to work in a bipartisan way to reform the program… then it lives and then, you know what? Medicare is in serious danger.”

—Sara Jerving