Mound City

When it comes to the Presidents proposed potential ideas for a plan, there is little more to be said about his Social Security concepts than no. There have been no definitive plans as of yet, but the President is still chris-crossing the country stumping for his privatization ideas, even if no one can nail down what they are. If there has been any quibbling about the President's intentions on Social Security, recent statements by White House officials dispelled any of the pretense of the President's plans intending to "save" Social Security.

For those who want to stand against the pseudo-plans of the President, Kevin Drum over at Political Animal has some good advice.

I guess they call it the third rail of American politics for a reason. I continue, though, to think that somewhere there's a Plan B in the background. Bush has gained a reputation for resoluteness based on his unbending dedication to upper crust tax breaks and military action in Iraq, but as Marshall Wittman points out, he's happily flip flopped on practically every other policy initiative he's been associated with. He's probably willing to do it this time too.

He's good at it, too, which means that Max is right: Democrats shouldn't let themselves get panicked into offering alternatives to Bush's plan too soon. After all, there's no particular crisis at hand and no particular reason to help Bush out of a dilemma of his own making. Let him twist for a while.

In addition, any Congressman who wants to know understand the real stakes in this should simply reflect on the fact that the President wants to talk about Social Security, but he wants the Republicans in Congress to step up and put it on paper.

The President may have capital to spend, but he's not going to risk losing his shirt on this one.