Forbes on Fox Appearance... Iraq & Social Security

Hey gang,

I'll be on Forbes on Fox this Saturday, as part of a panel including Steve Forbes and legendary Forbes editor Jim Michaels. The topic, which I believe will be stated as if it's a fact is: "The Iraqi elections are a big win for Bush and will give him momentum to push through his domestic policies, especially his Social Security phase-out." Well, they will never call it a "Social Security phase-out" but that's what it is. I'll just be on that one segment, by the way, so if you watch and you see me and you don't want to watch any more, well, flip away because there will be no more me.

It sounds like it will be a political process argument. Bush gets elections in Iraq, all the anti-war folk lose face and have to back Bush's other agendas.

I don't know how much time I'll get to speak because I haven't been on a panel with Steve Forbes before. To be fair, Steve owns the company that's given me a good job and lets me get on TV to blabber in the first place, so don't expect me to be cutting him off.

But, here's the argument I hope to make tomorrow: The elections in Iraq are not an end, the violence won't stop and to claim they will bring peace is to be as naive to have claimed "Mission Accomplished" when Bush did that the first time. On the Social Security front, Bush can't even get the Iraq hawks in line. Republicans in the House and Senate like Arlen Specter and Olympia Snowe are already on record as havin grave doubts about the Bush privatization proposal. In the end, the best Bush can hope for the Iraqi elections is that they don't spark a civil war and even if they go flawlessly, it's no help to him on Social Security -- he might never need to run for office again, but his allies in the House and Senate do.

Hopeully, I'll be able to condense that message and deliver it at the taping tomorrow. If I can't, you all need to let me know. A blog like this, and even the pages of Forbes, give me the space I need to elaborate my point of view. TV doesn't and yet TV is where I can have some impact.