Pay and Benefits 'Adjustments' Looming?

Yesterday, I noted that it would be nice to hear President Obama be more specific about whether he's willing to accept further cuts in the area of federal pay and benefits in the name of deficit reduction. In re-reading what he said at yesterday's Twitter town hall, I think he may have provided a little more information than I previously noticed.

In responding to a question about public sector collective bargaining rights, Obama said the following:

In the public sector, what is true is that some of the pension plans that have been in place and the health benefits that are in place are so out of proportion with what's happening in the private sector that a lot of taxpayers start feeling resentful. They say, well, if I don't have health care where I only have to pay $1 for prescription drugs, why is it that the person whose salary I'm paying has a better deal?

What this means is, is that all of us are going to have to make some adjustments. But the principle of collective bargaining, making sure that people can exercise their rights to be able to join together with other workers and to negotiate and kind of even the bargaining power on either side, that's something that has to be protected. And we can make these adjustments in a way that are equitable but preserve people's collective bargaining rights.

So, typically, the challenges against bargaining rights have been taking place at the state level. I don't have direct control over that. But what I can do is to speak out forcefully for the principle that we can make these adjustments that are necessary during these difficult fiscal times, but do it in a way that preserves collective bargaining rights.

So, because taxpayers are "resentful" of public employee benefits, "all of us are going to have to make some adjustments." Such adjustments just need to be "equitable" and implemented in a way that preserves collective bargaining rights.

That sounds like someone who's willing to accept cuts in benefits, as long as in the process no changes are made to the collective bargaining system -- which in the federal sector typically doesn't involve negotiations over pay and benefits anyway.