Selling Social Security reform
By Judy Woodruff
CNN Washington Bureau
 |  House Majority Leader Tom Delay |
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|  VIDEO |
 CNN's Bill Schneider on public sentiment on Social Security plans.
 CNN's Allan Chernoff on Social Security debate.
 CNN's Dana Bash on Bush's renewed push for change.
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Fresh from his "charm offensive" in Europe, President Bush returned home to woo Americans with his plan for Social Security reform. But Bush may be facing as critical audience on the domestic front as on the international one.
Members of Congress were back in their home states last week listening to their constituents discuss the Bush plan for creating personal accounts for Social Security. But the response was not as positive as the White House may have hoped.
In fact, the public may be even more skeptical of them. A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll this week shows that just 35 percent of Americans say they approve of the way the president is handling Social Security, down from 43 percent in early February.
Even Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, who weighed in for the second time in two weeks in favor of private accounts, repeated his admonition that it should be a go-slow approach.
But Greenspan was most forceful arguing that the more urgent problem is putting Social Security back on sound fiscal footing, which he said could require cutting benefits or raising taxes. Either could make the current fight over personal accounts look easy by comparison.
Perhaps congressional Republicans are worried about the polls. CNN's Congressional Correspondent Joe Johns reported on Inside Politics Tuesday that House Majority Leader Tom DeLay said he believed only a third of his colleagues held town halls on Social Security over the last break, despite encouragement from the White House. In the Senate, Majority Leader Bill Frist said it's not the time to set a date for taking such a bill to the floor.
Hesitant to promote private accounts, Republicans seem to be eager to discuss the possibility of compromise. When I interviewed Rep. Clay Shaw, R-Florida, on Monday, he said he wants to create government subsidized saving plans outside of Social Security.
"My plan differs from [President Bush's] mainly in that I don't use any of the trust fund assets to fund personal accounts," Shaw said. "And I think that's probably the plan that is eventually going to bring the Democrats to the table and start talking with the president and the Republicans and the Congress to get this thing done."
CNN White House Correspondent Dana Bash reported on Inside Politics Monday that Bush has been careful not to take anything off the table, except raising the payroll rate.
Shaw said he believes Bush is open to compromise. "In politics you never get everything that you want," Shaw said. "And the president has made it very clear in the State of the Union Address that he's looking for other ideas. He's put his ideas on the table, but he's looking for others."
At the state level, governors in town this week for the National Governor's Association annual meeting were talking more about potential budget cuts to Medicaid than Social Security's solvency.
Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, a Democrat, told me, "Medicaid now provides health care for 53 million Americans, more Americans than are on Social Security. And if Social Security may or may not go bankrupt in 2042, let me assure you, unless we can fix Medicaid, it's going to bankrupt the states long before that, probably within the next decade."
When the governors did focus on Social Security, there was no resounding endorsement of Bush's plan. Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, a Democrat, said the governors met with Bush and seemed view Social Security benefits through a different prism from the president.
"The president was clear that what he would like to see is ultimately, over time, returning to the initial reason for Social Security, which was a safety net," Vilsack said. "And I think that there are most of us who believe that Social Security needs to be maintained as the primary retirement income for many, many Americans."
As Bush continues his education tour this week to persuade Americans that Social Security reform is necessary, it remains to be seen if the cornerstone of Bush's program can survive.
Judy Woodruff is CNN's prime anchor and senior correspondent. She also anchors "Judy Woodruff's Inside Politics," weekdays at 3:30 pm ET.
