Today's
press briefing is worth reading. It's always interesting to see the questions the reporters actually ask, and how much they push in these sessions, and then see what actually gets printed in the papers.
Today's briefing discussed Bush's plans for privatizing Social Security. And as vague as he was about paying for it during the campaign, things aren't any clearer now.
Some interesting parts from Scott McClellan:
The President believes very strongly that personal savings accounts must be part of the solution.
So that's clear...but when it comes to paying for it:
The President at this point has not endorsed a specific plan, but he's laid out some very clear principles and he's very firmly committed to working closely with congressional leaders to get this done.
In other words, Bush has done his work coming up with the idea, now it's up to Congress to figure out how to pay for it.
And if you were thinking about reducing the deficit and getting back to a position where we have a surplus to help cover Social Security, apparently that's not an option:
If you look at the two options that are available, doing nothing -- which is a $10 trillion cost over the long haul -- or acting and reducing that cost...
I also like the way that he uses the word "unsustainable" 7 times (8 if you include "not sustainable").