Editorial: Overhaul is faltering

Monday, March 28, 2005 | 9:02 a.m.

President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and top Cabinet officials have been crisscrossing the nation in recent weeks to pitch what they say are the benefits of the president's plans to partially privatize Social Security. Typically, when the president visits a city to tout privatization, he holds what looks like town hall meetings with local residents.

But these question-and-answer sessions are nothing more than cheerleading events. They are carefully choreographed, allowing only those who agree with the president's vision for Social Security to ask him questions. Such stage-managed events, in which there is nary a dissenting word and almost universal praise for privatization, are intended to give the illusion that the public supports the president's plan. Interestingly enough, however, this attempt at manipulating news coverage has fallen flat, as polls show that the more people hear about the president's plan, the less they like it. A USA Today/CNN/Gallup Poll last week found that 6 out of 10 American workers believe it is a "bad idea" for the government to allow workers to invest some of their Social Security taxes in the market.

Meanwhile, the vice president was in Reno last week as part of the White House's traveling road show, and he seemed at a loss as to why the nation's most influential organization for older Americans, AARP, would oppose the partial privatization of Social Security. The president, after all, excluded older Americans from participation in his proposal. "You've got to be 50 years old to be a member of AARP. And for most members of AARP, this isn't going to have any impact on them whatsoever," Cheney said.

The vice president's remarks, unintentionally, are revealing of the political cynicism that pervades the president's plan -- and why so many distrust the proposal. The president assumed that if he excluded older Americans from his plan, then selfishness would set in and they would not voice opposition. But guess what? Polling still shows them strongly opposed to privatization. They're thinking of what's best for all Americans -- which happens in many cases to include their sons, daughters and grandchildren. Taking such a huge, unwarranted risk with the nation's retirement safety net is unacceptable to them. Additionally, it was amusing to read about the stony reception that Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., received last week when he talked about Social Security during a speech to the Nevada Legislature. Not a single legislator applauded when Ensign spoke favorabl y about the president's privatization plans.

It's become increasingly clear that the public doesn't have any appetite for Bush's radical approach to Social Security. The sooner the White House acknowledges this, and drops privatization as an option, the more likely Congress can responsibly deal with ensuring Social Security's future.