“Wall Street’s wild ride over the last few weeks has many critics of President Bush’s 2000 campaign promise to create personal Social Security accounts dredging up the issue to score points with justifiably frightened voters. Barack Obama’s campaign has used the issue as a cudgel to whack John McCain, who supported President Bush’s plan. Embattled GOP senators such as New Hampshire’s John Sununu are also finding themselves on the defensive as the issue of private accounts is resurfacing in campaign attack ads. resident Bush deserves criticism for the way he pushed private accounts, but not for the idea itself. … Private accounts made sense in 2001, and they still make sense today, even after the calamitous last month in America’s capital markets.” (10/06/08)