BLOGS AND SOCIAL SECURITY….I’m not generally much of a blog triumphalist, but Reed Hundt caught my eye today with this criticism of Jackie Calmes’ Wall Street Journal article about why George Bush’s Social Security reform failed:
First, she neglects huge role played by blogworld, which every moment eagle-eyed every distortion, misrepresentation, confusion, and unanswered question embedded in the White House campaign against defined benefits for retirees.
Hmmm. That actually sounds plausible. I wouldn’t buy the maximal case that Blogs Won The Social Security War, mind you, but they probably did have a real effect, didn’t they? They helped drive media coverage to some extent, and they probably also helped stiffen the spines of Democratic politicians who might otherwise have been tempted to compromise on the issue.
It’s funny that I hadn’t thought of this, but until now I hadn’t. It still seems to be the case that blogs are better at stopping things than making things happen, but helping stop a major policy fiasco is certainly more impressive than getting someone fired. The blogosphere is growing up!
