We like Social Security reform.  We love the politics of it.

We readily acknowledge that we suffer adult attention deficit disorder during discussions of Social Security economics.  While that would seem to disadvantage us against those who create economic projections with abandon, we do understand a factor that is far more important.  Economic conditions — like life and legislation — are not static, and anything thought to be understood now is unlikely to approach reality when those critical future years — 2018, 2042 or others yet to be identified — arrive.  Perhaps you, too, have noticed the poor record of even short-term economic projections.

Regardless, the President is right philosophically and politically about the need for reform, and he is right to try it now.  Social Security, as currently constructed, is a giant, government-compelled Ponzi scheme, complete with government plunder of the unlocked box.  That must be fixed, making the system as fair and as beneficial as it can be to workers who must pay as well as to retirees who thought they had binding contracts for benefits with their government.

The President has gotten credit for proposing a bold initiative that he could easily have avoided.  Whether he can take it home is another matter, but if he truly exploits the bully pulpit that he never fully utilized in his first term, then the political brilliance of his initiative will exceed its substance.  This is a win/win, lose/win scenario.

Take the following assumptions: Most Americans, young and old, haven’t a clue how Social Security works and, more important, how it will (not) work into the future if left alone.  Fully explained, young workers ain’t going to like that at all.  If the President’s actual plan can, in fact, provide some measure of personal, privatized accounts for younger workers, maintain promised benefits for seniors and do so at a cost significantly less than will be incurred if the system is left alone, then opposition may well fulfill the political death wish already becoming epidemic among liberals.

Polls indicate the President starts marginally better than even on the public opinion scale.  He’s not going to have to work very hard to build those numbers if liberals adopt the plan floated by Dipsy Dianne Feinstein, who seems to be saying, sure, personal accounts will be okay if we just tax them onto the existing program, which will, by the way, still require additional taxes and reduced (or postponed) benefits.  Now that’s a political winner.  Even Valley Girls who may never teach at Harvard can get that one.

Just dream for a moment:  Liberals can no longer campaign by scaring seniors.  New generations can gain the understanding and benefits of capitalism, managing to some extent their own retirement destinies.  A flawed, some would say fraudulent, government system can be improved, even if only incrementally.

Cliché has it that tampering with Social Security is the “third rail of politics.”  But what if the President has turned it into a politically incorrect lesson from Uncle Remus instead?  Of briar patches are crafty politics made, and the architect has not been napping.