You got it. But not at the expense of Social Security. The New York Times editorial page, no fan of the Clinton administration, was absolutely smitten. With Clintonesque strokes he has put together a retirement plan that extracts the best part of Governor George W. Bush's proposal, leaving the governor to defend the unpopular parts. For starters, it reinforces the premise that the only politically safe way to soak up the projected budget surplus is via add-ons to America's most sacrosanct program, Social Security.
Old folks are the one group who already benefit from a halfway decent system of social insurance.
Ostensibly, this program helps younger working families. Gore and the Democrats need to open up a broader front. Then these would become sacrosanct, too. In this issue of the Prospect , Bruce Ackerman and Anne Alstott make the case for a much bolder approach to a broadly egalitarian stakeholder society. This sort of play sometimes makes it to the post-season, but seldom all the way, except with extraordinary style and luck.