Wednesday, November 25, 1998

Nation needs leadership on Social Security

President Clinton may have escaped the usual successes of the opposition party in the sixth year of a president's tenure by default. By that point in an administration, presidents ordinarily have faced up to uncomfortable responsibilities almost sure to breed unpopularity in some quarters. But this president seems less attentive to a sense of such duty, at least if it's beckoning him to travel to perilous places.

Seldom was this clearer than the other day when Rep. Bill Archer, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, asked the president to send Congress his specific proposals for saving Social Security. The president refused. It's easy enough to talk about saving the system on which millions are dependent, but start making enemies the moment you spell out the details. It doesn't matter what your solution is, it's bound to infuriate somebody. That's a burden this president apparently doesn't want to bear.

His stance is particularly disappointing for three reasons.

One is that there is no single other governmental issue of such immense importance. As soon as 2013, by the administration's own calculations, payroll taxes will no longer suffice to pay benefits. At that point, it will be necessary to cut benefits, increase taxes or borrow heavily. If the government enacts reforms now, the worst consequences can be avoided.

Second, the president has advertised himself as the savior of Social Security, safeguarding a budget surplus from Republican tax-cutters so it will be there to help save the system. His might be a questionable claim, but a central point is that watching out for a surplus is meaningless in the absence of a plan to assure long-term Social Security income will match its outgo.

Third, it will take presidential leadership to solve this problem. If the Republicans propose something, they are setting themselves up for demagogic criticism, much as happened to them on their 1995 plan to save Medicare. The Democrats will look to their leader in the White House. Bipartisan cooperation is possible, but only if the president will step forward with a plan and meet with leaders of both parties on the issue, something he has so far failed to do.

The president is clearly well-liked in the land. But popularity means nothing unless it is used for the public good. It's time for this president to summon up the courage to act on something important. That's his job, not simply maintaining a high rating in the polls.