Bush Takes Social Security Campaign on the Road

A day after his State of the Union address, President Bush took to the road Thursday in an effort to build momentum for his bid to restructure Social Security.

In two town hall-style meetings, here and in Great Falls, Mont., the president vigorously promoted his case for allowing people under age 55 to divert some of their Social Security payroll taxes into personal investment accounts. The president also painted a dire future for the New Deal retirement program if it were left unchanged.

During his remarks here, Bush promised to take the case for overhauling Social Security across the country, including today in Omaha, Little Rock, Ark., and Tampa, Fla., and Tuesday in Michigan, at the Detroit Economics Club.

“It’s in my nature to confront problems,” Bush said. “I think it’s important to get out amongst the people and talk about the important issues.”

The president’s two-day sojourn was designed partly to pressure Senate Democrats in some of the states that he carried in November who opposed his version of personal savings accounts.

In an interview after the Fargo event, Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), who had arrived with Bush aboard Air Force One and had conversed with the president for nearly two hours during the flight, said he was “hopeful” that Democrats could support some version of a savings account plan, but only as part of a larger Social Security restructuring.

“There’s a kernel of a good idea” in Bush’s approach, Conrad said. But a Social Security restructuring must not be achieved through “massive borrowing” or “steep” cuts in retirement benefits, he said. Bush on Wednesday asked Congress to consider measures to fix the system’s long-term financial problems, including unspecified benefit cuts for future retirees. He has not endorsed any of those possible measures.

To highlight his Social Security proposal, Bush relied on one of his favorite formats, sharing the stage with several carefully screened citizens whose experiences and views bolster his positions.

In Fargo, White House advance teams packed North Dakota State University’s Bison Sports Arena with a friendly audience of more than 7,000. They gave Bush a raucous, campaign-style welcome -- and kept it up throughout the event, which the White House called a “Conversation on Saving Social Security.”

A giant backdrop behind the stage read: “Strengthening Social Security for the 21st Century.” Mounted on easels were two large charts, headlined: “Cost of Inaction” and “The Demographics of Social Security.”

One of the participants was Jeffrey Brown, a University of Illinois economics professor, who talked of “the miracle of compound interest” while lauding the potentials of private accounts.

In describing the conditions that he said would lead to Social Security’s ultimate demise, Bush noted that life expectancy was much higher than when the program was devised, while fewer workers were paying payroll taxes into the retirement program to support each retiree.

“The math doesn’t work,” he said.

Bush also reiterated that “all options” are on the table for fixing the system’s long-term financial problem, except for raising taxes.

Upon arriving in Great Falls later in the day, Bush confronted fresh evidence of the challenge he faces.

Thursday’s Great Falls Tribune reported on a survey saying that state residents oppose personal savings accounts by “a nearly 2-to-1 margin.” And Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.) said he was “not yet” on board with Bush’s Social Security agenda.

The Tribune said that about 59% of 405 adults surveyed opposed the personal accounts idea, while nearly 30% supported it.

“President Bush might need to use all his Texas straight talk to convince Montanans to support letting individual workers invest part of their Social Security funds in stocks and bonds,” the newspaper said.

The Tribune poll also found that 11% of those surveyed believed the Social Security system was in a crisis, as the president’s supporters have asserted.

In Great Falls, where many in the audience at Montana ExpoPark wore cowboy hats, Bush took on a decidedly folksy demeanor, even as he led a discussion on Social Security. At one point, the president said of the need to act: “Don’t theorize. Don’t pontificate. But fix it!”

In Montana, Bush took questions from the audience, leading at times to a freewheeling give-and-take that strayed from the president’s main topic.

At one point, when a bike enthusiast asked Bush what type of mountain bike he owned, the president exhorted people to exercise.

“Prayer and exercise are what keep me going as president,” he said, and then quickly added: “And family. And friends. And Laura. Especially Laura.”

In answer to one woman with an adult daughter who is mentally disabled, Bush declared flatly that Social Security disability benefits would not be touched by the changes he seeks.

Still, that left unanswered a host of related questions, such as what happens to a person’s investment account and disability benefits if the worker becomes disabled and can no longer work.