White House Preparing Shift To "Inside Game" On Social Security Reform. US News Bulletin has learned that senior White House advisers believe there is no groundswell of support for the President's ideas, including the creation of private retirement accounts. So the President and his surrogates will continue to campaign nationally for those ideas, with stops by Bush in West Virginia and South Carolina next week. After the "campaign phase" ends in a few more weeks, the plan is to play an inside game on Capitol Hill. "We've been defining the problem," a senior Bush strategist tells US News Bulletin. "Now we've got to get Democrats to the table talking about solutions. ... We'll be pressuring them to come to the table, and there's lots of quiet outreach going on now." If the Democrats don't play ball, the GOP fallback option is to label them obstructionists in the 2006 mid-term elections.
However, adds this week's US News & World Report, "White House aides say they're happy with the pace of progress" on Social Security. While polls and House and Senate leaders "are skeptical of passage this year, the White House thinks the events will boost support over the next month. 'We are making real progress,' says a top Treasury official."
Over the next few weeks, says Knight Ridder, the Bush effort to promote Social Security reform will target a younger audience. Bush is "hoping that younger workers will breathe new life into his stalled plan for redesigning Social Security." With public and congressional support lacking, White House strategists "are preparing a new appeal targeting younger workers, who tend to be more open to changes in the retirement program. Ideas under consideration include sending the president to more events on college campuses or other venues with young people."
Administration Officials Have Logged Over 100 Social Security Events. The Washington Post reports in its "In the Loop" column that "halfway through the famed '60 Stops in 60 Days' tour to tout the Bush administration's ideas on Social Security," President Bush and Vice President Cheney "and other administration officials already have logged more than 100 events in 32 states."
Group Plans $1 Million Cable Ad Buy Opposing Bush Plan. The AP reportsProtectYourCheck.org, a new organization created to oppose the President's Social Security plans, "intends to open a television ad campaign this week depicting the proposal as the tip of an iceberg that will cut benefits and raise the national debt." A spokesman said the group "will spend nearly $1 million to show the commercial on cable stations nationally over the next three weeks."
Top Republicans Disagree On Whether Bush Is Enduring "Rough Patch."US News & World Report reports President Bush "has hit a slow spot. His job approval is down in the 40s; he's on the wrong side of public opinion on key issues ranging from federal intervention in the Terri Schiavo case to Social Security overhaul. Democrats are looking to beat him on the looming issue of judicial nominations. Yet he's intent on staying the course, and his aides minimize his problems. 'A rough patch?' a senior White House official told U.S. News : 'I'm not sure that's the case.' Yet it has unsettled some Republican allies." One reason "may be ominous: More Americans believe the economy is worsening, at least partly in reaction to rising gas prices."
