One thing worth keeping in mind as the Social Security debate gets going is that Bush can’t count on his popularity in the red states to frighten Democrats into supporting him. I have long been bullish about personal accounts. The last two to three elections have established that reform is not political poison, and may even be a plus (at least in the sense that it reduces the traditional Democratic advantage on entitlements). But it has hardly been established that opposition to reform is dangerous. There may be very good political reasons for a Democratic senator in a red state to go along with a Bush nominee to the Supreme Court. But I can’t think of one Democratic senator who will have to go along with him on Social Security–the political calculation will all be the other way. Republicans are going to have to pick off a few Democrats by actually getting them to agree on the policy. Gulp.