It certainly took long enough! Robert Pear of The Times reports:

AARP, the influential lobby for older Americans, signaled Wednesday for the first time how fervently it would fight President Bush's proposal for private Social Security accounts, saying it would begin a $5 million two-week advertising campaign timed to coincide with the start of the new Congress.

The organization, which played a huge role in the passage of Medicare drug legislation last year, said it was prepared to spend much more in the next two years to block the creation of private accounts financed with payroll tax revenues.

"This is our signature issue," said Christine M. Donohoo, chief communications officer for AARP, which represents 36 million Americans 50 and older. "We will do what it takes." [emhpasis added]

AARP's role in the passage of the Medicare Rx bill cannot be understated. Had the organization not come out strongly in favor of the President's bill, there is no way the legislation would have become law.

With AARP in strong opposition to the President's agenda of gutting Social Security, it might be impossible for him to get things moving. This move by the AARP, in combination with the recent news that Bush's Tax Reform effort is effectively delayed for a year, signals that the President will have an extremely difficult time pushing his domestic agenda despite his "mandate."

Progressives will undoubtedly have to work extremely hard in the next year to ensure the President is unable to forward his radical agenda. That having been said, for now the President seems to be at a disadvantage.