The Coming Dem Screw Job pt. II
I hate it when I’m right about stuff like this.
“Treasury Secretary John W. Snow indicated Wednesday that the White House would accept a Social Security overhaul that does not divert the program’s payroll taxes into personal retirement accounts, a major shift in the administration’s position.”
Josh Marshall interprets that as a strategic retreat in order to find other ways to phase out Social Security.
“Diverting payroll taxes into private accounts is the most obvious but far from the only way to phase out Social Security. And that is still clearly the goal. Money can be shifted around in creative ways. Private accounts can be created on the outside which intentionally bankrupt the Social Security program, etc.
So for the moment, while recognizing the sign of desperation that this is, it would be foolish to see this as anything but a strategic retreat made in order to keep alive the original objective.”
It’s worse than that, I’m afraid. It’s exactly the pivot I was worried about. The President realizes he’s not going to get privatization, and is now shifting to “saving face,” by actually fixing Social Security long-term.
Democrats will be forced to eiher go along with his plan (whatever it turns out tio be) or be labelled as being in opposition to fixing Social Security.
if they go along, they will get no credit for it. If they oppose him, they will get pummeled on it in the midterm elections.
I’m surprised this happened as soon as it did, quite frankly. But the signals Bush is getting from Congress may be what’s pushing it over the edge.
UPDATE: Atrios is already pointing to the scoreboard. Only problem is, we are still in the second quarter.
March 2nd, 2005 at 1:29 pm
It rarely feels good to be right about anything in the Bush Land. It’s not unlike the helpless feeling one gets watching a black & white video montage of a homicidal babysitter shakin’ the kid, slappin’ the kid, and burnin’ the kid with a cigarette… and you know what the next piece of footage will bring and there’s not a damn thing you can do to stop it.
March 2nd, 2005 at 3:07 pm
The Dems should develop an alternative policy and start hammering it now so that they can take the moral high ground when the Bush crew change tac.
March 2nd, 2005 at 9:11 pm
I don’t get it. If Bush is practically conceeding that no one trusts him on SS, which is this “third rail” issue, why would the Dems not keep hitting him with it for the next four years? Let alone roll over on it. That’s nuts isn’t it? Wouldn’t you just keep saying, “Bush - the guy who tried to bust up your social security….” even when discussing other issues.
Four years? I mean 10 years. Twenty years. Am I missing something here? The Dems should keep hitting Republicans with this for the next decade even after Bush leaves. “They just want to steal your social security”. “Republicans can’t be trusted with your future”.
Seriously what the f*ck is up with the Democratic party? The only thing they should be hammering is the asshole in the white house.