Racial Profiling?

"Despite months of presidential effort, the nationwide poll found the public is not rallying toward Mr. Bush's vision of a new Social Security that would allow younger workers to put part of their payroll taxes into private investment accounts. Two-thirds said they were uneasy about Mr. Bush's ability to make sound decisions on Social Security. Only 25 percent said they approved of the way Mr. Bush was handling Social Security, down slightly from what the poll found in March. . . .

"Still, Mr. Bush continued to have majority support for his handling of the war on terrorism -- 52 percent -- one of his strengths throughout his 2004 re-election campaign."

Fifty-two percent is not exactly overwhelming, though.

Oh, and 37 percent approve of Bush's handling of Iraq.

I hear the media playing taps on Social Security. The Washington Post began warming up the trumpet yesterday:

"With the Senate Finance Committee at an impasse on Social Security and House leaders anxious about moving forward, Republican congressional leaders have told the White House in recent days that it is time to look for an escape route."

Now the Wall Street Journal is playing a few more notes:

"Congress's Republican leaders, convinced they are staring into the jaws of defeat on overhauling Social Security, are scrambling for an alternative approach to President Bush's top domestic priority that would allow him -- and them -- to seize some measure of victory.

"In coming weeks, the separate efforts of Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas will determine whether even that is possible, numerous Republicans say. What has become clear after months of meetings with Republicans on their respective panels, however, is that their packages won't include Mr. Bush's proposal for personal accounts carved from Social Security payroll taxes and may not meet his demand to keep the program solvent."

Paul Janensch of the Hartford Courant ties the scant coverage of the Downing Street Memo to certain other subjects:

"If you are unfamiliar with the memo, that's understandable because it received little attention in the American news media. The trial of Michael Jackson on child-molesting charges and the disappearance of a young Alabama woman in Aruba were considered more important. . . .

"Digging up information about the planning for the war is time-consuming and might draw the ire of the Bush administration. Stories about the trial of a pop star and the disappearance of a young woman on a Caribbean island are more dramatic, safer and a lot easier to do."