The Ad:
Title: “Social Security”
From: The Obama/Biden Campaign, Democratic ticket
Type: Attack Ad on Republican candidate John McCain’s views on Social Security
Date: Released Sept. 18, 2008
URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oV9GZUtCgPc
What It Says:
The ad attacks Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s views on changing Social Security. Here’s the transcript:
“A broken economy, failing banks, unstable markets, families struggling. To protect us in retirement, Social Security has never been more important. But John McCain voted three times in favor of privatizing Social Security. McCain said, ‘I campaigned in support of President Bush’s proposal.’ Cutting benefits in half, risking Social Security on the stock market. The Bush-McCain privatization plan. Can you really afford more of the same?”
The ad flashes the dates of these votes: April 1, 1998; April 2 1998; and March 16, 2006.
The Facts:
Social Security is a tax-supported, pay-as-you-go program for the elderly and disabled. It is one of the nation’s most popular government programs. It is based on the idea that today’s workers pay for the benefits of today’s retirees. Benefits being paid out to the elderly and disabled will soon be outstretching taxes paid by workers because of increasing life spans, a decreasing birth-rate and the imminent retirement of the baby boomers.
Analysts strongly urge that a change should come soon. The sooner the program is overhauled, economists say, the more spread out the effects will be and the easier it will be for taxpayers to absorb.
Despite presidential candidate Barack Obama’s critical ad, McCain does not have a formal proposal about Social Security. McCain’s campaign Web site does not even mention Social Security. But, in a speech on May 15, 2008, in Columbus, Ohio, McCain said he supports the addition of personal retirement accounts, commonly referred to as privatization, to the Social Security program.
In 2005, President George W. Bush proposed changing Social Security to allow workers to set aside a portion of their Social Security payroll taxes into personal retirement accounts invested in the stock market. But the proposal was fiercely controversial and the president eventually dropped the plan.
Let’s check the statements in the ad:
- “John McCain voted three times in favor of privatizing Social Security.”
This is accurate. On April 1, 1998, in vote number 56, McCain voted in favor of considering the federal budget surplus a means to establish a program of personal retirement accounts. The measure passed in the Senate. On April 2, 1998, in vote number 77, McCain voted in favor of using any budget surplus to reduce payroll taxes and establish personal retirement accounts. The measure also passed in the Senate. On March 16, 2006, in vote number 68, McCain voted in favor of establishing a reserve fund for Social Security reform. The measure failed. Congress has not enacted any changes to allow personal accounts in Social Security.
- “The Bush-McCain privatization plan.”
This is misleading. There is no formal “Bush-McCain privatization plan.” Two of the votes McCain cast in favor of privatization occurred seven years before Bush announced his proposal. It is unlikely that McCain’s ideas for changing Social Security are as dependent on Bush’s plan as the ad suggests. But the ad is employing a common Democratic technique of trying to link Republican candidates to Bush, because of the president’s low popularity ratings.
- “Cutting benefits in half, risking Social Security on the stock market.”
The statement “cutting benefits in half” is inaccurate. Privatization does not necessarily include cutting benefits. Cutting benefits is another, separate, proposed idea for changing Social Security. These cuts are proposed at 3 and 5 percent.
The statement “risking Social Security on the stock market” is misleading. Personal retirement accounts would not necessarily be invested in volatile stocks. That would depend on how the proposal is crafted to create the personal accounts. In Bush’s version, the plan called for limiting the risk by allowing investment only in specifically approved stocks and bonds.
Conclusion:
This ad is misleading and inaccurate. The ad’s allegations are against a proposal McCain has not made. Instead, the ad links McCain to Bush’s unsuccessful plan for Social Security. The ad also inaccurately interprets the cuts in benefits and risk involved by privatization, capitalizing on the public’s fears of a failing economy and its ignorance of Social Security.
(Susanna McElligott is a senior with dual majors in newspaper journalism and art history.)
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