Charles Krauthammer accused President Obama of “reactionary liberalism” in his inaugural address for supporting Medicare, which Krauthammer described as “increasingly obsolete.” But Krauthammer has attacked Obama and Democrats in the past for what he falsely described as efforts to cut or destroy the program.

In a column posted at the Washington Post and FoxNews.com, Krauthammer claimed Obama's inaugural address “was a paean to big government” that attempted to “defend unyieldingly the 20th-century welfare state” and “expand it unrelentingly for the 21st.” As evidence, Krauthammer pointed to Obama's pledge to safeguard Medicare:

The first part of that agenda -- clinging zealously to the increasingly obsolete structures of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid -- is the very definition of reactionary liberalism. Social Security was created when life expectancy was 62. Medicare was created when modern medical technology was in its infancy. Today's radically different demographics and technology have rendered these programs, as structured, unsustainable. Everyone knows that, unless reformed, they will swallow up the rest of the budget.

But Krauthammer previously attacked President Obama and Democrats for what he falsely claimed were cuts to Medicare in the Affordable Care Act, and defended Rep. Paul Ryan's controversial budget from claims that it did the same.

In August, 2012, Krauthammer falsely claimed that “Democrats are discovering they stepped on a land mine with Medicare. The fact is that Medicare was raided for Obamacare.” Krauthammer went on to claim that “the Ryan plan contemplates a change which begins in ten years which would exempt anybody who is in the system today, which doesn't reduce the spending in Medicare.”

On the February 13, 2012, edition of Fox News' Special Report, host Brett Baier claimed Obama was taking $300 billion out of Medicare, a move that Krauthammer described as “essentially rationing” care and “draconian”: