WASHINGTON — Far from his dairy farm in central Utah, 27-year-old Josh Wright stepped onto a stage with President Bush on Tuesday and related the warning his father had given the other day in the barn.
"He looked me in the eye and he said, 'Don't depend on Social Security. You're independent.... Don't plan on having Social Security there when you get older.' "
The president looked at Wright approvingly. "At your age," he said, Social Security "will be bust by the time it comes for you to retire."
But for Alice Froeschle, a retired teacher from Jenks, Okla., Social Security is a "guarantee that workers who retire will not be destitute in their old age." Speaking to a reporter Tuesday at the request of congressional Democrats, Froeschle said the current system was far better than having workers "gamble their retirement away in the stock market."
And so it went Tuesday, as Bush and his Democratic opponents each sought to bring an uncertain public to their side in the battle over the government's biggest social program.
The president and his Republican allies want to allow workers to divert some of their Social Security tax money into privately owned stock and bond accounts. Many Democrats say this would reduce the program's promised retirement benefits while exposing inexperienced investors to the risks of the market.
By showcasing real people and their personal stories, both sides were trying to reach the public and, in turn, lawmakers in Congress, many of whom see big political risks in reshaping one of the government's most popular programs.
One recent poll suggested that the public was not yet demanding that Congress follow the president's lead. In the CNN, Gallup, USA Today survey of 1,008 people, 71% said Social Security was in "crisis" or faced "major problems," but 55% said it was a "bad idea" to add private investment accounts while cutting promised benefits.
About 52% said they disapproved of Bush's handling of Social Security, while 41% approved. The poll was conducted Friday through Sunday and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Bush, who led a talk-show-style "conversation" with workers in a cavernous government auditorium Tuesday, tried to turn up the heat on Congress to restructure the program.
"If you're 20 years old, in your mid-20s, and you're beginning to work, I want you to think about a Social Security system that will be flat bust, bankrupt, unless the United States Congress has got the willingness to act now," Bush said.
