Robert J. Samuelson: President should use bully pulpit to talk about the costs of aging

Only the occupant of the bully pulpit can yank public opinion back to reality. This requires acknowledging that an aging America needs a new social compact: one recognizing that longer life expectancies justify gradual increases in Social Security's and Medicare's eligibility ages; one accepting that sizable numbers of well-off retirees can afford to pay more for their benefits or receive less; one that improves generational fairness by concentrating help for the elderly more on the needy and poor to lighten the burdens — in higher taxes and fewer public services — on workers; and one that limits health costs.

Obama hasn't talked intelligently or openly about America's aging. In budget negotiations, the administration has made some proposals (a different inflation adjustment for Social Security benefits, a higher Medicare eligibility age) that broach the subject. But Obama hasn't put these modest steps into the larger context of social change; nor is it clear how much the administration supports them. It's true that Republicans should also accept higher taxes — but only after the White House engages retirement spending.

Little is possible while public opinion remains frozen in contradiction. The mistake lies in thinking that the apparent paralysis isn't policy. It is. Government is being slowly transformed into a vast old-age home, with everything else devalued and degraded.

Robert J. Samuelson is a Washington Post columnist.