Bush Increasingly Alone On Private Accounts. - New Poll Finds Bush Priorities Are Out of Step With Americans.

Six weeks after his inauguration, President Bush seems to be losing the debate over the purported keystone policy proposal of his second term: the introduction of private investment accounts into Social Security.

The most recent reading of public opinion, a New York Times/CBS News poll, suggests a majority of Americans are uneasy with Mr. Bush's ability to make the right decisions about the retirement program and don't think the president shares the priorities of most of the country on either domestic or foreign issues.

On Social Security, 51% of respondents said private accounts are a bad idea, and 69% called it a bad idea if they were told the private accounts would result in a reduction of guaranteed benefits. "Notwithstanding Mr. Bush's argument that citizens should be given more control over their retirement savings, almost four out of five respondents said it was the government's responsibility to assure a decent standard of living for the elderly," the Times reports.

And asked to prioritize among five domestic issues facing the country, respondents rated Social Security third, behind jobs and health care. Those opinions, apparently foisted by the earful on members of Congress during their recent recess visits home to constituents, are now shaping the evolution of deliberations in Washington.

Skittish Republicans are intensifying their search for alternative approaches to Social Security, to White House consternation.

One possibility The Wall Street Journal describes as more appealing to Democrats and the seniors' lobby AARP "would be to leave the popular program largely unchanged, and encourage workers to create instead 'add-on' private accounts alongside the Social Security system." The Bush administration has been careful publicly to avoid excluding such ideas, and Treasury Secretary John Snow yesterday left open the door to such an approach, the Journal says. But the Washington Post reports that White House officials are privately telling Republicans that "Bush is opposed to the idea but does not want to say so because it would appear he is not willing to compromise."

The Wall Street Journal notes that the private-accounts solution doesn't even address the long-term solvency problems of Social Security, and that some senior Republicans are saying they are eager to stabilize the program's finances with or without the private accounts.

In the meantime, Mr. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney plan to star in a 60-city, 60-day countrywide tour to promote their ideas.

(3-3-05 The New York Times; 3-3-05 The Washington Post; 3-3-05, The Wall Street Journal - subscription (e-mail me if you want the article).