Waiting for the plan

Look, I realize now that I said the Democrats should come up with their own plan to address a Social Security shortfall, and I think they should. But certainly not right away, and certainly not like this.

The GOP and Bush are floundering now, and looking for any means of escape, it seems. Any proposal will be grabbed as his own and pushed forward from that angle. More that likely, the media won't clear up the difference and Bush will be a hero for whatever outcome unfolds. Democrats should not blink first on this one. They should wait for Bush to flesh out his ideas and present his own plan.

Granted the GOP now says this "crisis" can wait up to two years before they address it, which they hope will give them election victories in the Senate so Democrats become an afterthought. This is very unlikely to happen.

By that time we will see new projections on Social Security and will better be able to judge if the improvements in the outlook are meaningful or anomalies.

If, however, in two years we are still discussing this issue, then Republicans have done nothing to address it. Democrats are not the party in power, and they can do nothing on their own. And more importantly, Democrats are not the ones that ran around yelling crisis to anyone who would listen.

So while eventually I would like to see, say, all 44 Senate Democrats sponsor a bill to address any projected shortfalls (and what to do with the revenue generated if those shortfalls never come), for now, the ball is not in their court, no matter how bad Republicans would like it to be.