Smart Donkey

Maureen Dowd's furlough from the NYTimes editorial page is welcome, especially since the liberal who has taken her place seems to have intelligent things to say. His first article, appearing today, is appropriately on the biggest issue of the day: Social Security. And unlike Dowd and the other party-line Democrats at the Times, he's coming out and admitting that there is a problem. The thrust of his article is that Democrats need to engage intelligently on Social Security. He's not calling for compromise: he urges harsh politics and demagogery to tear down the illiberal aspects of Bush's plan. But he does call for Democrats to recognize that the (Democrat-originated) scheme for slowing benefit growth that Bush recently adopted shouldn't be thrown out with the bathwater. More importantly, he's admitting that there is a problem. And that's the first step to recovery.