Bush asks nation to back Social Security changes
State of Union gives pledge on benefits
WASHINGTON -- President Bush last night asked Americans to rally around his push to overhaul Social Security, telling the nation that the ''great moral success of the 20th century" would crumble into bankruptcy in the 21st century if the system did not change to allow personal retirement accounts.
Speaking in soothing tones, the president used the first State of the Union address of his second term to assure older Americans that their government retirement benefits would not change under his plan to partially privatize Social Security. For the first time, Bush specifically said benefits for Americans 55 and older ''will not change in any way," and he said the plan would help workers protect themselves from market swings that could deplete their accounts right before retirement.
But the president, in a wide-ranging speech calling for toughness at home and abroad, also made it clear that younger workers might have to accept limitations on their guaranteed benefits. He pointedly noted that he would consider raising the retirement age, as President Clinton suggested in the 1990s, and changing the cost-of-living adjustment of benefits in a way that would slow the growth of benefits, a course that was recommended by the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who was a Democratic senator from New York.
''I know that none of these reforms would be easy, but we have to move ahead with courage and honesty," Bush said, drawing cheers from supporters and some boos and hoots of disapproval from foes in the House chamber. ''Our children's retirement security is more important than partisan politics."
The speech dwelled less on foreign affairs than the president's previous addresses to joint sessions of Congress. But he celebrated the Iraqi elections that took place on Sunday -- noting the presence in the chamber of two women who voted in recent elections in Iraq and Afghanistan -- and brushed aside Democratic calls for him to set a timetable for American troops to return home.
''We will not set an artificial timetable for leaving Iraq, because that would embolden the terrorists and make them believe they can wait us out," Bush said. ''We are in Iraq to achieve a result: a country that is democratic, representative of all its people, at peace with its neighbors, and able to defend itself. And when that result is achieved, our men and women serving in Iraq will return home with the honor they have earned."
Safia Taleb al-Suhail, an Iraqi woman seated in Laura Bush's box, held her shaking fingers up in a ''V" for victory; later, she hugged the mother of a slain US Marine who clutched her late son's dog tags, punctuating the close of Bush's speech with an emotional and apparently spontaneous embrace.
Bush asked Congress for $350 million to support a democratic Palestinian state, and said America would work toward a Middle East where Israel can live at peace with a free Palestine.
Continuing a theme he emphasized at his inaugural address two weeks ago, Bush promised that America will ''confront regimes that continue to harbor terrorists and pursue weapons of mass murder." He singled out Syria and Iran for his harshest warnings.
On domestic matters, Bush called for restraint, pledging he would keep spending under control and reduce or cut 150 programs in the budget he is to deliver to Congress on Monday. The president also called for limiting medical malpractice awards, simplifying the federal tax code, and changing immigration laws to allow temporary ''guest workers" into the United States.
He also referred to his opposition to gay marriage and new stem cell research, without mentioning either one of the politically charged phrases. Instead, the president called for an amendment to ''protect the institution of marriage" and to create a ''culture of life" and ''ensure that human embryos are not created for experimentation or grown for body parts."
Bush revealed a few more details of his Social Security plan, which he compared to the Thrift Savings Plan offered to federal workers. Younger workers could eventually invest 4 percent of their income in private accounts; after retirement, participants would get back their investment in regular payments, and not in one lump sum. Retirees could also leave their accounts to their heirs.
Bush was received warmly by the Republican-led House and Senate, with many Republican representatives and senators displaying ink-stained forefingers in a show of support of the Iraqis who voted on Sunday -- and of the Bush administration military actions that made the election possible.
Democrats, however, pointedly remained in their seats through standing ovations Republicans gave for many of the president's initiatives. Bush's Social Security proposal drew the most heated criticism, with Democrats vowing to stop any privatization of the program.
''The Bush plan isn't really Social Security reform," said Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada. ''It's more like Social Security roulette. Democrats are all for giving Americans more of a say and more choices when it comes to their retirement savings. But that doesn't mean taking Social Security's guarantee and gambling with it. And that's coming from a senator who represents Las Vegas."
Two Massachusetts residents were chosen by the White House to attend the speech as a means of highlighting Bush's initiatives. Nancy Connolly, president and CEO of Lasertone Corp. of Littleton, the largest woman-owned supplier of network printer solutions, sat near Laura Bush. Will Dunn, an outreach worker and receptionist at the Ella J. Baker House in Dorchester, was chosen for his work in mentoring children and reducing their participation in gangs.
The president's address reflected an ambitious second-term agenda in domestic and foreign policy. But he faces deep divisions in Congress, a newly unified Democratic opposition, and the difficulties reelected presidents have historically confronted.
''As a generalism, second terms are bummers for American presidents," said William Leuchtenberg, a presidential scholar and professor emeritus of the University of North Carolina. Even very popular presidents have had a hard time in their second terms, and Bush -- with an approval rating of 50 percent, according to an ABC/Washington Post poll released yesterday -- faces even bigger hurdles, he said.
''It's hard to take seriously the notion that Bush has any great amount of political capital," Leuchtenberg said.
Bush's speech sets the stage for a flurry of activity to promote or target the proposal to overhaul Social Security. The president is leaving today on a five-state tour to tout his proposal. MoveOn.org -- a liberal organization that was active in the presidential campaign -- is airing a TV ad in Florida, Indiana, Montana, and Pennsylvania, asserting that Bush's proposal would burden workers with a ''working retirement" on top of ''working lunches" and ''working vacations." Both the AARP and USA Next -- a group that bills itself as a ''free-market alternative" to the leading seniors' organization -- are mounting ad campaigns to criticize and laud the idea, respectively.
''AARP is the biggest boulder in the road to success on Social Security personal retirement accounts, and we, USA Next, are going to be the dynamite that removes it," said USA Next chairman Charlie Jarvis, pledging a $10 million campaign to promote Bush's plan.
Members of Congress on both sides of the issue are planning local town meetings to discuss Bush's proposal with constituents 