I Cogitate

• President Bush stated that Social Security is in crisis

My Funk and Wagnalls dictionary defines 'crisis' as: a critical moment, a turning point. President Bush, please explain why the year 2005 is so dire for Social Security? Could it be that your latest term in office concludes in 2008 and that there is a crisis in the West Wing? In 2018, the U.S. government can no longer borrow money from Social Security to pay for other expenses and actually must start paying back the billions already borrowed. That sounds like a crisis in government spending, not Social Security. So President Bush, why have you submitted annual budgets with the enormous deficits that have required borrowing from Social Security? Yes, changes need to be made because a deficit in Social Security will occur sometime between 2042 and 2052 but why is the only 'solution' pulling the plug on Social Security?

• President Bush stated Social Security would be out of funds in 2042

In this year's State of the Union speech, President Bush stated: "by the year 2042, the entire (Social Security) system would be exhausted and bankrupt." Well, he is either terribly misinformed or a liar, with neither exactly a positive. He simply chose to employ the same scare tactics he (and Dick Cheney) utilized in his 2004 presidential campaign in warning U.S. voters that their lives were in danger unless they voted for the Bush-Cheney ticket.

• President Bush stated that privatization was the solution

First, President Bush talks up privatization as the way to solve the problem with Social Security. Then, in a January 16, 2005 article in the Washington Post, he denies ever using such a word and issues an accusation of editorializing with their questions to two Washington Post reporters. The reporters then point it out to him his use of the word and he issues the lamest of excuses:"I'm surprised. Maybe I did. It's amazing what happens when you're tired." Real reason: 'privatization' didn't go over well with focus groups, so 'personal accounts' was deemed the words to use instead.

In an October 22, 2002 Washington Post article by Dana Milbank, Stephen Hess of the Brookings Institute is quoted: "Everybody makes mistakes when they open their mouths and we forgive them," Some of Bush's overstatements appear to be off-the-cuff mistakes. But what worries me about some of these is they appear to be with foresight. This is about public policy in its grandest sense, about potential wars and who is our enemy, and a president has a special obligation to getting it right."

Just before launching his first presidential campaign, President Bush, in a Dallas Morning News interview, was asked to address religion in his life and his politics. He responded: “I view my religion as very personal....I want people to judge me on my deeds, not how I try to define myself as a religious person of words.”

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