My personal musings about anything that gets on my radar screen--heavily dominated by politics.
2005-03-22
Town Hall With the President
I had the wonderful opportunity to go see the President this afternoon out at the Air And Space Museum for his Town Hall meeting on Social Security reform. And, thanks to the efforts of Sean Duffy and Michele Austin, I HAD GREAT SEATS. Up on the stage, about fifteen feet behind and to the right of the President. What a trip!! My daughter even got to shake hands with Sen. McCain as he came around and worked the line.
Yes, you read that right--Senator McCain was with the President to pitch the Social Security plan. And, in truth, he said the two most interesting things of the day. One, referring to his recent trip to Afghanistan and Iraq, that we should all be proud of the leadership of this President. "The winds of democracy and change are sweeping across the world" and "Europe is on the wrong side of history. And two, "To my friends at the AARP, if you don't like our solution, GIVE US ONE!"
From a political standpoint, for the President to have John McCain on his side in this one, and to make him visible in this campaign, is a billiant stroke--from both sides. For the President it makes it easier to get to the "moderates" and say that he has the support of one of their heroes and this issue is a winner. From McCain's standpoint, if he helps the President achieve his primary domestic policy goal in this term, it would go a long way towards smoothing the ruffled feathers of a base that isn't very happy with "the Democrats favorite Republican."
As to the substance, this wasn't anything new, particularly. It does seem like W's going to push a couple of points pretty hard in the near future--that people over fifty will see no difference in their benefits, and that this is a voluntary plan. The more he can hammer those two points, and also pointing out that every federal employee (including Reps and Senators) already belongs in a system such as this, it should help move this argument forward. I hope.
Sometimes, in politics, it isn't good enough to be right. Being able to sell it is at least as important, if not more so, and so far the President's team hasn't been all that successful getting this message out there. And he seems very confident in this idea, so I hope he gets out there on TV and elsewhere to sell this. | |
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