Bush's Greatest Regret-- Progressives' Most Solemn Pledge

Now you could probably rattle off a dozen of Bush's worst blunders and most tragic errors with your eyes closed, right? And I bet one of them wouldn't be his failure, despite gigantic efforts, to privatize Social Security. But speaking to a roomful of bankers and financial lobbyists in Chicago yesterday, Bush said his greatest regret was not having been able to do what Republicans have tried for 75 years: dismantle Social Security. Not to worry, of course, the surging GOP is vowing to try again if they're able to seize power on November 2. And our spine-deficient president is probably frothing at the mouth for some nice bipartisanship on this, especially with the Republican he loves most, Paul Ryan, leading the way.

As we saw the other day, 136 progressives, following the lead of Raúl Grijalva, sent Obama a letter telling him they will not go along with Republican plans to balance the budget on the backs of senior citizens. They served notice to the Republicans and to Obama that if they cobble together a coalition of the Republicans and the conservative Democrats (Blue Dogs in the House and ConservaDems in the Senate), there are enough real Democrats to give them the fight of a lifetime. 

It's a fight Boehner very much wants to fight, and-- unless Justin Coussoule knocks him off in his own Ohio district-- we have to pray that electorally vulnerable stalwart progressives like Alan Grayson, John Hall, Mary Jo Kilroy, Carol Shea-Porter, Raúl Grijalva and Betty Sutton keep their seats. Even if, as looks likely, the Democrats lose as many as two dozen Blue Dogs and fellow travelers (like Suzanne Kosmas and Ann Kirkpatrick), as long as the progressives hold on, Nancy Pelosi will remain Speaker. And, regardless of what kinds of bipartisan compromise Obama works out with Boehner and Ryan and, if he should not be swept away with the rest of the garbage, anti-Social Security Blue Dog Allen Boyd, Pelosi will be a bulwark against any damage to Social Security under any circumstances. She even addressed Bush's stupid Chicago comments on her blog yesterday.

Out plugging his new book, former President George W. Bush today lamented losing his 2005 attempt to privatize Social Security... Just imagine if the Bush-GOP effort to turn Social Security over to the whims of Wall Street had succeeded. When seniors saw trillions of dollars of their own investments wiped out in the Bush financial meltdown on Wall Street, they also would have seen sharp losses in Social Security benefits.

...Three new studies were released examining the impact of the current Ryan/Republican Social Security privatization plans. All three reports find the GOP’s plans to privatize Social Security and turn it over to the whims of Wall Street would cut Social Security benefits for seniors. From the Wall Street Journal article, Social Security Study Finds GOP Plans Would Bring Big Cuts:

Republican proposals to overhaul Social Security would substantially reduce future benefits for people now entering the workforce, according to a new analysis from Social Security Administration’s chief actuary.

…“The new analysis reveals that these proposals result in benefits cuts ranging from 10% to as high as 50%,” said Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D., N.D.), one of the Democrats who requested the study. “That’s not what I’d call ’saving’ Social Security.”

…A worker born in 1985 whose earnings averaged $43,000 would receive 17% less at retirement than current law promises, as a result of Mr. Ryan’s proposal to change the inflation index. His proposed increase in the retirement age would reduce benefits by another 8%, according to the actuary’s analysis.

It is without question that privatizing Social Security and turning it over to Wall Street is very much part of the Congressional Republican agenda, backed by unprecedented amounts of secret money from shadowy special interests.

Last night progressive champion Elaine Marshall, North Carolina's fighting Secretary of State, duked it out with reactionary anti-family radical Richard Burr in the campaign's last debate. Burr, a Wall Street puppet and Chamber of Commerce shill, is one of the most eager of all the right-wing extremists to gut Social Security. He tries buying off seniors by saying it won't affect them, just future generations. He soft-pedaled it during the debates, of course, but he blames Social Security-- rather than bloated military budgets, corporate welfare or billions annually in tax cuts for the wealthiest few Americans-- for the deficit and has said over and over again that the retirement age should be raised and that there shouldn't be cost of living allowances that permit seniors' buying power to keep pace with inflation. 

In August, at a candidates' forum, Burr blurted out, "We gotta raise the retirement age… I think we’re gonna have to look at Social Security recipients above a certain income threshold and say ‘you’re above that threshold, you don’t get a cost of living increase.’ And that's all in an effort to try to get a glide path that's manageable in an entitlement program.” And as much as he struggles to obscure his record just before election time, Burr supported Bush’s plan to privatize Social Security during the 2004 campaign. In 2004, the Charlotte Observer reported that Burr “supports President Bush's proposal to allow younger workers to fund voluntary personal savings accounts with money that now goes to their payroll taxes.” 

In fact, Burr told the Winston-Salem Journal in March 2005 that he was "amazed" that some people opposed privatizing Social Security along the lines Bush was trying to drag the country to. Two years later he voted for an amendment by his guru Jim DeMint to set up personal investment accounts under Social Security, the first step toward dismantling the program. The only other senators facing reelection November 2 who also voted to destroy Social Security are Tom Coburn (R-OK), DeMint, of course, Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), John McCain (R-AZ), Lisa Murkowsky (R-AK), John Thune (R-SD) and, of course, unrehabilitated sex predator David Vitter (R-LA).

Of course, Elaine Marshall isn't the only progressive Democrat standing up for working families and fighting back against this reactionary crap. She's on our short list of Senate challengers because she does it so well. Over on the House side, all of the Blue America-endorsed candidates have pledged to fight against any and all attempts to disadvantage Social Security, whether that comes from the Republicans or from Obama's Cat Food Commission. Yesterday Bill Hedrick (D-CA) was touring Riverside and Orange counties with DFA Chairman Jim Dean and once again publicly pledged to fight any attempts to privatize Social Security and called on Congress to keep its "hands off" the successful program. "Social Security isn't some sort of lab specimen for career politicians in Washington to experiment with," he said. “My opponent voted to implement President Bush's privatization plan, but I stand with the people in telling Congress and Ken Calvert to keep their hands off Social Security."

Hedrick was referring to a vote on July 25, 2001, on an amendment offered by Bob Filner to prohibit funds for the purpose of implementing the final report of Bush's anti-Social Security Commission. Calvert voted NO, in effect voting to advance the implementation of a Social Security privatization plan developed by Bush. The commission was criticized for being stacked with pro-privatization members, even worse than Obama's, and the plan was never implemented.

"When you're Ken Calvert, profiting hundreds of thousands of dollars on land deals subsidized by taxpayer-funded earmarks, then of course you will never realize how important Social Security is to the nearly 90,000 people in our district who rely on it," Hedrick said.