The New York Times' Edmund L. Andrews and Richard W. Stevenson write that the administration is already so worried about their ability to pass any legislation to privatize Social Security that they have gone back to the drawing board -- even before any legislation has been introduced. They write,

The Bush administration, facing opposition from Democrats and unease among Republicans over its plan to overhaul Social Security, is looking at new ideas for cutting future benefits that would hit wealthy retirees harder than those in the middle or bottom ranks of wage-earners, people involved in the discussions say.

[...]

Over the last few weeks, the White House has seen the debate over Social Security take off, but not always in ways that appear helpful to Mr. Bush's goal of quick action to create personal investment accounts within the retirement system and deal with its long-term financing problems.

Cutting benefits, even for the wealthy, could be a non-starter for AARP and other groups dedicated to the survival of Social Security. The President must thus have the full support of his entire Republican base to ensure passage of his privatization plan, though as David D. Kirkpatrick and Sheryl Gay Stolberg write in another Times piece in Tuesday's paper, Bush's Evangelical base might not be on board yet.

A coalition of major conservative Christian groups is threatening to withhold support for President Bush's plans to remake Social Security unless Mr. Bush vigorously champions a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

The move came as Senate Republicans vowed on Monday to reintroduce the proposed amendment, which failed in the Senate last year by a substantial margin. Party leaders, who left it off their list of priorities for the legislative year, said they had no immediate plans to bring it to the floor because they still lacked the votes for passage.

But the coalition that wrote the letter, known as the Arlington Group, is increasingly impatient.

It's tough to be the President...