Democrats Stick Their Heads In The Sand Again - This Time On Social Security

A fine article was written in today's Washington Post regarding Democrats refusal to offer a counter to Bush's plan for personal accounts. As Sebastian Mallaby reminds us:

Last year Democrats impaled themselves on the Iraq war. They were so anxious to denounce the invasion that they failed to acknowledge the most basic point of all: that, having waded into Iraq, the United States could not leave prematurely. By attacking the Bush policy relentlessly, Democrats sounded negative. By refusing to say clearly that they would finish the Iraq job, they sounded irresponsible.

It's not difficult to see where Mallaby is going with this:

Now Democrats risk making the same mistake on Social Security. They are so anxious to denounce private accounts that they fail to acknowledge the most basic point: Social Security has a serious deficit. The Post reported Friday that nearly every Democratic senator refuses even to contemplate the Bush proposals. But the Democrats have no proposal of their own. They sound negative and irresponsible.

I have been simply astounded at the way Democrats have been behaving since their loss of the Whitehouse in 2000. It is as if their situation has become so grim that they no longer feel it necessary to act like responsible politicians. Mallaby agrees that it is irresponsible for Democrats to simply stick their heads in the sand over Social Security:

This is a mistake, first, because it's bad for the country. Social Security's deficit does need to be fixed, and the fix will be harder if we miss the current opportunity. Whatever one thinks of President Bush's personal accounts, he's out there touring the country, trying to open people's minds to the necessity of reform; meanwhile, Republican members of Congress are sticking their necks out with detailed overhaul proposals. If this moment is squandered, it may be years before any politician musters the courage to tackle Social Security.

Those are years we can't afford. As the debate illustrates, reform is salable only if it exempts people near retirement. The oldest baby boomers, those born in 1946, are already almost 60. With each year that passes, the cohort of politically inviolable near-retirees expands sharply -- meaning that the burden of remedial tax hikes and benefit cuts on younger workers will have to be that much heavier.

I for one actually hope Democrats continue their habit of obstruction and naysaying. I left the Democratic Party for one that sees the issues for a realistic point of view rather than forcing an idealistic agenda on America regardless of the consequences.

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