Via Talking Points Memo, this piece in the Boston Globe: "The run-up to President Bush’s plan to deal with Social Security is
looking a lot like the run-up to his plan to deal with Saddam Hussein." True enough, but the main point of similarity has been missed: scare the c%^$ out of the electorate.
Predictably, the next phases of the media campaign will be:
1 – portray Bush as being strong and decisive on this issue
2 – portray opponents as being weak and indecisive
3 – if opposition gets any traction, plug into the reptilian brain as deeply as possible and ratchet up the fear factor
I still believe that the sudden focus on social security reform is about distracting the public from Iraq, and building a legacy that will bump Iraq and the controversy over the first election from the history that is eventually written about the Bush presidency.