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The President and Social Security
Rich Galen Friday February 4, 2005
Just to review the bidding, this is what the President said about Social Security in his State of the Union Address:
"For the long-term health of our society, we must agree to a bipartisan process to preserve Social Security and reform Medicare for the long run, so that these fundamental programs will be as strong for our children as they are for our parents."
And later:
"We'll hold a White House conference on Social Security in December. And one year from now, I will convene the leaders of Congress to craft historic bipartisan legislation to achieve a landmark for our generation, a Social Security system that is strong in the 21st century."
Dear Mr. Mullings:
Excuse us, but we're looking at the text of the President's State of the Union Address and we don't see where he said that.
That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
But, you just can't make up a President's remarks!
I didn't make them up. Those are the exact words regarding the need to save Social Security as spoken in the State of the Union Address by President Bill Clinton in 1997 and again in his SOTU in 1998.
Well, aren't you just the most clever boy.`
The point here is: The Democrats are whining about the lack of a demonstrated need to reform the Social Security system and claiming that President Bush has invented a crisis for his own - undetermined - purposes.
Bill Clinton (a Democrat, when last seen) recognized the need to reform Social Security EIGHT YEARS AGO.
Eight years have gone by and nothing has been done. The Dems are claiming that we are more than 20 years away from any kind of funding crisis for Social Security.
Eight years ago they might have said we are nearly three decades away from a funding disaster, but they didn't. I don't remember, but I suspect the Democrats in the House chamber stomped and applauded President Clinton's remarks.
Innerestin', isn't it, how time just slips on by? One week you're looking for your first job. Next week you're driving at a flat-out 17 miles per hour, with your left-hand blinker on to get to the restaurant for the Early Bird Special before they run out of the meat loaf.
Congressional Democrats as personified by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid �
Disreputable SIDEBAR
I try very, very hard not to get into ad hominem attacks by dwelling on someone's looks. But am I the only person in America who thinks Ms. Pelosi got into the John Kerry/Theresa Heinz Botox supply before she went on TV Wednesday night?
END Disreputable SIDEBAR
� by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid (who were suffocatingly omnipresent all week) had this as their well-considered alternative:
That's right: A big fat blank. Nothing. Nada. None. Zero. Bupkis.
Another problem for the Pelosi-Reid team is that Americans actually think the President is onto something. According to the Gallup poll prior to the speech 51% said the President was headed in the right direction on Social Security, 38% said wrong way.
After the speech, however, those numbers moved to 66-29. Two-thirds of those who actually heard the President are willing to consider some reform in the 70-year-old program.
Furthermore, according to Gallup: "After the speech, 74% of speech watchers said Bush made a convincing case for the government to take action on Social Security in the next year or two, while only 24% disagreed."
Whether or not you think Social Security needs to be reformed or whether you even think the program should be in existence this much is clear: President Bush has already accomplished a big goal: Social Security is the topic of discussion in America today.
On the Secret Decoder Ring page today: A link to the Gallup poll from the SOTU, a fairly weak Mullfoto, and a Catchy Caption of the Day.
--END --
Copyright © 2005 Richard A. Galen
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