THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

New York Times Editorial:

A Bad Choice for Social Security

A day after the midterm elections, President Bush announced that he had deputized Henry Paulson Jr., the secretary of the Treasury, to work with the new Congress on reforming Social Security. Mr. Paulson would bring formidable deal-making skills to the task, honed over years as a top investment banker. In an interview with The Times after the announcement, he stressed the importance of bipartisanship. “We were going to have to build a consensus, no matter who won the election,” he said.

But then Mr. Bush nominated Andrew Biggs, a zealous advocate of privatizing Social Security, to a six-year term as the next deputy commissioner of Social Security. The nomination puts Mr. Paulson in a tough spot, raising questions about whether Mr. Bush really wants to build a consensus for Social Security reform.

To have a serious discussion with Congress, Mr. Paulson must first take the idea of private accounts off the table. As an experienced negotiator, he has to know that. In opinion polls the public largely rejected Mr. Bush’s plan for private accounts. Congressional Democrats resisted en bloc. Most Republican lawmakers were lukewarm at best. Mr. Bush has interpreted the defeat as evidence that the public and Congress are too frightened of change to embrace his vision. But private accounts were rejected because they are bad policy and bad politics.

Mr. Paulson — who has a reputation for pragmatism — could indeed be the right person to take the lead on developing a new set of reforms. But with the nomination of Mr. Biggs, Mr. Bush is signaling that he doesn’t want new ideas.

Mr. Bush’s choice of Mr. Biggs is also no favor to the man he has nominated to be the next commissioner of Social Security, Michael Astrue, a businessman who was an official in the administration of President George H. W. Bush. In a public exchange of letters before the election, Mr. Astrue told Senator Harry Reid of Nevada and Senator Max Baucus of Montana that he would follow the practice of the current commissioner, Jo Anne Barnhart, who has steered clear of the privatization debate.

With Mr. Biggs on his staff, Mr. Astrue may find that a difficult commitment to keep. In 2005, Mr. Bush campaigned for privatization with another deputy commissioner by his side — diminishing the authority of Ms. Barnhart. If Mr. Bush truly wants to empower Mr. Paulson and Mr. Astrue, he should withdraw the ill-advised nomination of Mr. Biggs.

Li'l Georgie smearing feces on the walls again.