is looking for an exit strategy on Social Security. He thinks the issue is more responsible for Bush’s mediocre job-approval rating than the Schiavo case or gas prices–although he doesn’t argue the point very persuasively. (Add up gas prices, wage decline, and what Barnes calls “a shaky stock market,” and it’s not hard to see why people would be concerned about the economy.) I think Barnes also overstates the damage Social Security might do to Republicans in 2006. If Bush were still fighting hopelessly for it in October, I could see a serious problem developing. But who thinks that is at all likely? If he concludes that the fight is hopeless, Bush doesn’t need to make a statement passing the buck to a future president, as Barnes recommends. He can just let the issue fade away and move on to other things.