"If nothing happens, at your age, it will be bust by the time it comes for you to retire," Bush told Josh Wright, of McCornick, a small farm community in Millard County, who joined the president for a town hall-style "conversation" to discuss the Social Security system.
Bush used the forum to counter growing reluctance by Republicans in Congress to tackle his proposal to create voluntary personal accounts that would give younger workers the option of investing a portion of their payroll taxes in the stock market. Versions of the plan have called for deep cuts in benefits to future retirees, and GOP lawmakers facing tight races in the 2006 midterm elections have taken the unusual position of publicly questioning the need for the president's ambitious plan.
"Why stir up a political hornet's nest when there is no urgency?" Rep. Rob Simmons, R-Conn., told the Washington Post Tuesday. "When does the program go belly up? 2046. I will be dead by then."
Bush said Wright, a 27-year-old fifth-generation dairy farmer and the son of former Republican state Sen. Bill Wright of Elberta, represented the "youth movement" in the cross-section of five citizens he assembled in the ornate Andrew Mellon Auditorium in downtown Washington.
Although much of the conversation was about dire predictions of Social Security going bankrupt in the near future, Bush launched an impromptu comedy routine with Wright when he quipped that when he first met the Utah farmer in a private meeting, Wright "asked me if I could fix the BCS [Bowl Championship Series]," a reference to the University of Utah football team's undefeated season but lack of respect.
"No, I'm not going there, Josh," said Bush. "I'm staying on Social Security. It may be a little easier to fix, anyway."
"But he said that they wouldn't be able to take Texas," Wright said as the audience laughed and applauded.
"Wait a minute," said Bush. "You don't need to talk about private conversations. OK, you're a dairy farmer? Good. Milking those cows."
"Not today, obviously," responded Wright. "I made my dad stay home and do it. But we have a dairy farm in central Utah and you can fit the whole town in this building here."
"Kind of like Crawford," Bush said, referring to the Texas town where he has a ranch.
"There's a lot more cows than there are people, so I spend a lot of time talking to animals," Wright said.
"Are they talking back yet?" asked Bush. "When they start talking back, give me a call."
Said Wright: "Not when I have a stick in my hand, they don't say a lot."
Bush also asked Wright if his father might be watching the town hall forum on the cable television channel that broadcasts legislative and White House events.
"Have they got C-SPAN out there in Utah?" Bush asked.
"I don't know," said Wright.
Pointing to a television camera in the auditorium, Bush said, "See that red dot? That's him, if he's listening."
Said Wright: "He's probably watching the horse channel. He loves that channel."
