Bush on Social Security and Clinton on Health Care -(the details matter)

[papau]

Whichever side frames the narrative wins.

"It is a cliché of public policy that the devil is in the details, but nonetheless true. For the Clinton administration, the deadly details involved the method of getting to universal coverage: the requirement that employers provide insurance; the creation of quasi-governmental structures to administer the system; and the changes it would impose on Americans, even those who were perfectly happy with their medical care as it was. As the months dragged on, and the plan came under unrelenting attack from Republicans and an array of interest groups as a dangerous expansion of government, Americans shifted. ....It turns out there is something for nearly everybody to dislike about Bush's proposal," declared a polling memorandum circulated among Democrats last week, touting the analogy to the Clinton health wars - which this time, it argued, will favor the Democrats."

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/01/national/01assess.html

February 1, 2005

Bush on Social Security and Clinton on Health Care: Oh, Those Devilish Details
By ROBIN TONER

ASHINGTON, Jan. 31 - Thirteen years ago, Bill Clinton campaigned on the promise of universal health care, an immensely popular idea until he was elected and confronted the public with the costs of actually providing it - in new regulations, new mandates, wrenching change.

Now, some analysts say, President Bush faces the risk of something similar happening on Social Security: the general idea of creating private investment accounts, a reliable applause line on the campaign trail last year, foundering on the details. It is a nightmare possibility for the Republicans, a potentially sweet karmic payback for the Democrats.

At the urging of anxious Republicans, Mr. Bush plans to use his State of the Union address on Wednesday and a campaign-style swing through five states on Thursday and Friday to sell his plan to allow younger workers to divert part of their Social Security payroll taxes into their own investment accounts. This comes after a month of political backlash as the administration tried to turn this general promise into an actual policy, and the troublesome details, like how much it would cost, began to emerge.

Some Republican leaders, like Representative Bill Thomas of California, the House Ways and Means chairman, have been floating ideas to begin the legislative deal-making, only to find that those ideas have further stoked the anxiety and given Democrats more to criticize. Republicans trooped to the White House last week to urge the president to make his case more effectively and intensely with the voters.<snip>

[Coastie for Truth]

1. It is being marketed as being "Your Friendly Fidelity Fund"

self managed, on line account information, etc.

Which is plain bull pattie.

And, what will happen with Survivors and Disability? The Neocon wunderkinds haven't answered - and neither has MIT neocon wunderkind N. Gregory Mankiw (or Steve Forbes or Jonah Goldberg).

This is pie in the sky -- something for nothing.

Put your money in Brooklyn Bridge (or Golden Gate Bridge) mortgage notes.