The press conference was a good thing, both in satisfying the press (if not miffed “Survivor” fans) and in giving the president some face time without any notable mistakes. I suspect that after all that happened last year and all the media’s dour foreboding about his impending political doom, the president is not exactly shaking in his boots about the idea that his approval rating is a tad low 18 months before the next elections.
One odd thing I noticed afterward was ABC’s Terry Moran on “Charlie Rose” declaring private Social Security accounts as a “goodie.” Hmm. How is it that keeping your own money in an investment account is a “goodie,” but giving it to the government to “save” for you for 40 years is a “historically successful program”? I do wish more conservative politicians would talk in Limbaughesque terms about how Democrats want to preserve Social Security so they can always accuse the Republicans of wanting to starve the elderly, about the political usefulness of keeping retirees dependent on Washington for a large share of their retirement income.