THROUGH THE WALL, NOT OVER IT:

Cap over the wall (George Will, January 9, 2005, Townhall)

On Nov. 21, 1963, speaking in San Antonio the day before he was murdered in Dallas, President Kennedy explained the importance of the space program by citing a story by the Irish novelist Frank O'Connor. The story involved a boy who, when he came to a high wall he was afraid to climb, would toss his cap over the wall. ``This nation,'' said Kennedy, ``has tossed its cap over the wall of space, and we have no choice but to follow it.''

The 43rd president, even more than the 35th, favors a cap-over-the-wall presidency. Kennedy's cap-tossing was confined to his optional vow in 1961 that America would land a man on the moon before that decade ended. That vow pulled policy. President Bush's even bolder cap-over-the-wall decision is to define his second term by a vow to ``transform'' Social Security.

This decision, although desirable, was optional. Bush does not need to attempt it. The current estimate -- it probably will be revised upward, again -- is that Social Security outlays will not exceed revenues until 2018. So Bush could have kicked this can down the road, which is what democratic governments are wont to do.

Democracies generally do difficult things only under the lash of necessity.

Which is why the Administration is pretending there's a crisis.

Posted by Orrin Judd at January 9, 2005 1:25 PM