Good Business by Bill Novelli

Author:Bill Novelli
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press

The Beginning of the End

In August the TV program 60 Minutes did a feature on AARP. It began, “Earlier this month, Social Security turned 70. Some Americans, including President Bush, think the retirement program is ripe for overhaul. But after a six-month-long campaign, Mr. Bush has made little headway in convincing Americans that a radical change of Social Security is a good idea. As CBS news correspondent Dan Rather reports, the group most responsible for opposing the president’s Social Security reform plan is the AARP.” The program referred to the earlier Medicare legislation and said “the bill passed Congress only after Novelli threw AARP’s support behind it at the last minute.… Instead of cheers, the move brought … a torrent of criticism from Democrats and members … but AARP is now waging a much bigger political battle, with much higher stakes: It is fighting Mr. Bush’s plan to overhaul Social Security.”

Rather went on to discuss our reasons for opposing the Bush plan, and the 60 Minutes piece concluded that “AARP seems to be winning the battle for public and political opinion. Polls show only one-quarter of Americans approve the President’s handling of the issue. And leading Republican senators are, so far, unwilling to embrace privatization.” The program ended with me saying that our strength “comes from our members. It’s because they vote. It’s because they’re politically active.”

There was no official epitaph or sounding of taps, but private accounts carved out of Social Security had passed away. The president declared that he wasn’t giving up, but the White House went on to other issues, including energy and trade legislation. We shelved the rest of our ad campaign and ended our grassroots activity. Our teammates at Rock the Vote had the last word, with an e-mail to a million young people, urging them to “get the facts and don’t get played.” It ended with, “Social Security—it will be here for you.”

We celebrated a job well done. But there were costs—the resources and time committed to the fight, which we didn’t begrudge, but also the animosity that came from a bruising battle with an incumbent president and many in his party. Just as we had angered the Democrats in the Medicare win for prescription drug coverage, now our stock among many Republicans was at an all-time low. As Harry Truman said about politics, “If you want a friend, get a dog.”

The biggest cost, however, was that although we had won a major battle, we had not won the war for Social Security solvency. And the greying of America continues.

In 2010 President Obama appointed a National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, chaired by former Clinton White House chief of staff Erskine Bowles and former senator Alan Simpson (R-WY). It was a time of concern about America’s growing debt (the total indebtedness of the nation) and deficit (the annual shortfall).

Shortly after, the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) assembled a commission chaired by former senator Pete Domenici (R-NM) and Alice Rivlin, who had been President Clinton’s Office of Management and Budget director and the first head of the Congressional Budget Office.

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