NEW YORK: President George Bush is facing political disaster as his radical moves to overhaul America’s social security system come under unprecedented opposition. Bush has staked his reputation on the plans to transform America. Conservatives laud the reforms as the right-wing equivalent to the liberal New Deal of the 1930s. But dreams of a conservative revolution have aroused massive hostility to the reform of a system that has looked after US pensioners for seven decades. The President faces rebels in his own party alongside a united front of Democrats hardened by bitter recriminations over last year’s lost presidential contest.

The titanic struggle bears all the hallmarks of an election campaign as top politicians tour the country to sell their ideas to the people. It dominates the US media and politics far more than Iraq.

Bush himself has visited more than 15 states, holding a series of “town hall” meetings. Both sides are waging a grassroots propaganda war of rallies, leaflets and TV adverts. The fight masks a broad political divide pitting free market, individualistic Republicans against the Democrat instinct that government has a role to play in society.

The campaign has been a huge setback to Bush. A New York Times poll last week showed that the approval rating of his handling of social security had slumped to 30 percent, with a disapproval rating of 57 percent. The figures are bad news for Republicans who face tough fights in 2006’s mid-term elections. They are also good news for Democrats hoping for the first hints that Republican dominance has reached its high water mark.

The key is the special place social security has in the US psyche: some 47 million get social security cheques and 66 per cent of pensioners rely on them. This is especially important in poor states, such as those in the south, where Bush draws his strongest support.

Bush has warned that the coffers will run short as the “baby boomer” generation retires. He has proposed partly private investment accounts putting tax dollars into the stock market. But critics say he has created a “false crisis” and privatization won’t help solve cashflow.

“It makes the financing problem far more difficult to address. We don’t have to destroy social security to save it,” said Eric Kingson of Syracuse University.

The reforms have angered one of the most powerful demographic groups in the US — the elderly. The American Association of Retired Persons has 35 million members and a vast budget. It has put all its energy into fighting the proposals. Under pressure from the association and trade unions, many companies have been forced to reverse their support for change.

The Bush administration has hit back hard. Lobbying group USA Next has been tasked with tackling the association and hired several experts behind the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth group which helped to derail John Kerry’s presidential bid. In its first attack ad, USA Next blasted the association as pro-gay marriage and not supportive of US soldiers in Iraq. An image of two men kissing was juxtaposed beside a picture of a soldier beside the words: “The real AARP agenda”.

At rally after rally, Bush has pushed his ideas in meetings, covered widely by local media, and using hand-picked questions from a vetted audience. Hecklers are ejected.

That has provided ample ammunition for Democrats to deride Bush’s “Conversations on Social Security” tour as a farce. It has reunited a deeply split Democratic Party. Both its liberal wing led by Howard Dean and its moderate wing, in the guise of Senate leader Harry Reid, have been united in their condemnation of Bush’s plans.

A test vote in the Senate on social security saw five Republicans rebel. But so far there is no let-up in trying to force a political showdown which could bring the business of US government to a halt. Republicans need consent in the Senate to pass new laws, but anger over Democratic opposition to certain judicial appointments has seen them threaten a “nuclear option” to push through rule changes allowing a simple majority to be enough. In response, Democrats have threatened a political strike. Now the battle lines are more solid than ever.

It is certainly no longer politics as usual in Washington. Last week senior Republicans staged a news conference during which they wheeled out artefacts from the 1930s — the decade in which social security was set up — including an old phone and a Ford coupe.

“I wouldn’t be caught dead in a 1935 automobile and I want to make sure we have an updated system of social security, because that’s America’s investment vehicle,” Republican Senator Patrick McHenry told reporters.

But even that backfired. The car’s owner, furious at the insult to his pride and joy, opened its bonnet to reveal a gleaming engine rebuilt two years ago.—Dawn/The Guardian News Service.