From the
Houston Chronicle this morning.
It appears that even Bush himself realizes his plan is not the solution.
With polls showing Americans increasingly skeptical of his Social Security plan, President Bush acknowledged Wednesday that private accounts would do nothing for the entitlement's long-term solvency.
More below the fold.
"Personal accounts do not solve the issue," Bush said at a White House news conference. "But personal accounts will make sure that individual workers get a better deal with whatever emerges as a Social Security solution."
Bush has consistently linked private accounts to ensuring the future solvency of Social Security.
But polls show private accounts are not catching on.
A new ABC News/Washington Post survey found that 58 percent said the more they heard of Bush's proposals, the less they like them, while 33 percent said the opposite.
My grandmother, a staunch Republican who has never voted for a Democrat or an Independent in all of her 81 years, doesn't agree with Bush on Social Security.
Bush has succeeded in convincing people that there is a problem with Social Security that needs to be fixed, and insists that his message is getting through.
Uhm, what? We've known for years now that Social Security would be in trouble one day. How could it not be when the government borrowed and borrowed and borrowed from the fund and only put IOU's in its place? How could it not be when people are living longer and our jobs are being outsourced? How can it not be when people who make over $90 grand a year don't have to pay into it anymore?
Despite a lack of support from lawmakers, Bush has not wavered from requiring that personal accounts be part of any reform package.
Of course he has not wavered. He hasn't "wavered" since the very first day he kicked his booted feet up in the Oval Office. He has consistently and stubbornly stumbled ahead and in the process he has made America not a better place, but a place I no longer recognize. He has made bad decisions and he's made outright wrong decisions, but he's never once admitted that maybe he wasn't right after all. After all, God speaks to our President. And how can God be wrong?