Here's a NY Times Op-Ed from 2005 that I've updated for 2010:
NY Times wrote:
Congressional Republicans Democrats have begun talking with top White House aides about an exit strategy -- not from Iraq Afghanistan, but from the winless quagmire of President Bush's Obama's campaign to privatize Social Security reform health care. Mr. Bush Obama has responded to this new political reality by, first, insisting that the American people do not yet understand the virtues of privatization reform, and second, blaming the failure of his deservedly unpopular plan on Congressional Democrats Republicans.
That's absurd.
After listening to Mr. Bush Obama talk of little else during his second first term, the American people understand quite well what he is proposing for Social Security health care, and by wide margins reject it. In fact, the polls show that the more they learn about privatization reform, the less they like it. And with good reason. The very real risks of privatization reform -- in terms of retirement security quality of care and the enormous budgetary cost to the country -- far outweigh the potential rewards.
So when Congressional Republican Democratic leaders tell the president that Social Security private accounts health insurance exchanges are a nonstarter, they are conveying the informed views of their constituents.
Mr. Bush Obama has reacted by railing against Democrats Republicans for obstruction -- as if Democrats Republicans are duty-bound to breathe life into his agenda and, even sillier, as if opposing a plan that the people do not want is an illegitimate tactic for an opposition party.
/hattip to
Megan McArdle