Taegan Goddard's Political Wire

May 24, 2005

Are Democrats Cracking on Social Security?

"The Democratic Party is unified in its opposition to President Bush's plan to create private Social Security accounts from payroll taxes," Bloomberg notes. "It's not so united over what, if anything, it wants instead."

"Pressure is building on Democrats to offer ideas on how to shore up Social Security and increase the nation's retirement security, not just oppose the president's plan. The pressure threatens to expose internal rifts that have thus far been camouflaged by their universal opposition to Bush's plan."

Business Week reports "a framework for an agreement is -- surprisingly -- beginning to take shape... insiders see a quiet consensus developing around Reform Lite."

Meanwhile, last night on Hardball, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) suggested the filibuster deal may foreshadow bipartisan agreement on other issues. Said Graham: "Watch this group of 14 to come out with some deal for Social Security... Just keep watching."

Update: Writing in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Bill Scher suggests that to stay united, Democrats simply change the subject and "begin addressing the real crisis of Medicare and skyrocketing health care costs, by putting on the table a few comprehensive reform plans."

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Taegan D. Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country, including the Washington Post, USA Today, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer and Christian Science Monitor.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

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