Social Security Headed to Bankruptcy

In his fifth State of the Union, President Bush highlighted some of the big domestic questions: the future of Social Security, tax code revisions and immigration. These are increasingly familiar themes for the Bush presidency.

Even so, it’s hard to know what exactly the president would like to do on those issues. To a certain degree, the same uncertainty reigns even on Iraq, except for persevering.

The president promised that the U.S. military occupation “will increasingly focus our efforts on helping prepare more capable Iraqi security forces.” Americans will hope that Sunday’s election signals considerably better results from the training.

In an address with many domestic components, the president said surprisingly little about homeland security, bragging about improvements but offering no new help for ports and other potential targets. While Bush emphasized Social Security changes, he failed to lay out a plan, saying only, “Fixing Social Security permanently will require an open, candid review of the options.” But he rejected more payroll taxes, and his portrayal of coming bankruptcy was over dramatized. North Dakota ranks 46th among the states in the number of people over 65, but it will be President Bush’s first stop Thursday in a two-day campaign-style trip to tout his plan to restructure Social Security.

Bush’s second stop will be Montana, which ranks 43rd. He won’t get to second-ranked Florida his last stop on the five-state tour — until 6 p.m. Friday, when he speaks at the Tampa Convention Center. No one can accuse President Bush of thinking small. Whether trying to spread democracy or remake Social Security, Bush wants to be known as a president willing to take on big tasks. Indeed. After devoting only six sentences to domestic issues in his inaugural address two weeks ago, the second-term program Bush outlined Wednesday night in his State of the Union address is the most ambitious in recent memory.

The nation saw a president emboldened by his victory in November, by a bigger Republican majority in Congress and by the successful elections in Iraq. Contrary to the classic definition of conservatism as opposition to change, Bush spelled out a boat-rocking agenda both at home and abroad.