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An insult to the elderly

Had President Bush merely stood up the fifth decennial White House Conference on Aging, his absence might have been interpreted as indifference. But his media-staged "roundtable" at a retirement village outside Washington on the same day implied a more insulting purpose. He wants only those seniors who are willing to serve as political backdrops.

The president's reluctance to face public cross-examination is well-established, but the Conference on Aging is not Cindy Sheehan or, for that matter, the NAACP National Convention. It is a gathering of historic importance to all seniors, an event that has produced significant legislation in the past, including the Older Americans Act. It draws 1,200 delegates from around the nation, chosen by governors, members of Congress and the president, and typically includes the top professionals in the field of aging.

More to the political point, this year's conference was not orchestrated by partisan enemies. It was controlled by the Bush administration, and the executive director and a majority of the conference's policy committee were appointed by the White House. Yet Bush became the first president in its 45-year history to skip the event.

The likely reason is that conference delegates wanted no part of the president's Social Security privatization plan and expressed serious reservations about the new Medicare Part D prescription plan. Some delegates even sported red "Fix Medicare Rx" buttons.

While delegates complained about the difficulty and cost of Part D, though, Bush was at Greenspring Village Retirement Community with the White House press corps in tow. He touted the prescription plan, the medicare.gov Web site and told his nodding audience "this is government that has recognized it has a responsibility to help our seniors."

A government that recognizes its responsibility to seniors is also willing to hear their unscripted points of view. When the president cowers from his own Conference on Aging, he treats the elderly as just another political enemy.

[Last modified December 17, 2005, 01:01:18]