No you probably don’t.  And this is why.

While Social Security reform/privitization/dismantlement has become the biggest policy issue of the 2nd term, now that the word is out and people understand what the Administration’s goal is, the impact is hitting the President’s poll numbers hard.:

"Adults were evenly divided on Bush’s job performance in January, but now 54 percent disapprove and 45 percent approve. The number who think the country is headed down the wrong track increased from 51 percent to 58 percent in the past month."

Of course the real conspiracy theorists amongst us might have felt that they knew messing with social security was always going to be very tough, but that raising the issue, particularly with the vast shortfall it would leave in the budget, would allow or even force Congress to be more active in cutting other areas.

Or it might be just that there are enough honest conservatives left who cannot countenace a Medicare bill that busts the budget so badly. It’s a pity that there don’t seem to be enough as perturbed about the huge and unmentioned scandal of war profiteering, even as Bush asks for another $80bn a year for Iraq’s reconstruction–an amount that could eliminate uninsurance here at home.