The Los Angeles Times' duo of Joel Havemann and Warren Vieth raise an interesting question with their article in today's paper: what happened to the President's push to overhaul (or partially privatize, given your political slant) Social Security?

In July and August, Bush has made one appearance to plug his Social Security proposal, which he's described as the top domestic priority of his second term. In the first six months of the year, by contrast, he made 36 appearances focused primarily on restructuring Social Security — a dozen such events in March alone.

When Bush met with his economic advisors at his Texas ranch Aug. 9, Social Security was the last issue he raised, behind trade and tax overhauls and medical malpractice and healthcare costs. In his July 30 radio address recounting legislative victories and the challenges ahead, he did not mention Social Security.

Similarly, when Social Security, the granddaddy of government benefit programs, turned 70 on Aug. 14, there was lavish recognition of the anniversary from those who would keep Social Security's guaranteed benefits pretty much as they are and from those who want to transform the program.

Bush confined himself to a two-sentence statement in which he vowed to "keep the promise of Social Security for future generations."

The two political parties read this conspicuous absence in very different ways.

Democrats have been quick to conclude that the lack of presidential attention to the private accounts reflects what they say is the chilly response from Congress and the general public to his plan. And they have seized on the opportunity to trumpet their defense of the present system.

"As we celebrate Social Security's 70th birthday, Democrats renew our commitment to its founding principles and protect it from the disastrous Bush privatization plan," Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said in marking the anniversary of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's signing of Social Security into law.

[...]

But members of the Bush administration insist he has not given up. "The president is totally committed to Social Security reform," Al Hubbard, director of the National Economic Council, said after Bush met with his economic advisors this month.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the lull merely reflected the congressional recess, which ends Sept. 6. "This is one of our priorities when Congress returns," he said.

Heritage Foundation analyst William W. Beach, also a proponent of individual accounts, said it was reasonable for the White House to scale back its campaign. "There's a limit to how many times you can go out and make your pitch before it becomes so dull and repetitive," Beach said. "I suspect they feel like they're almost there."

And Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C), the chief congressional author of legislation to finance individual accounts out of surplus payroll tax revenue, said the White House was silently in favor of his bill. "I think we're in a pretty good spot," DeMint said.