Below The Beltway

It looks like President Obama’s honeymoon may be ending, at least when it comes to one of the most explosive issues in American politics:

WASHINGTON — President Obama is eager to seek a bipartisan solution to ensure the long-term solvency of Social Security, people who have spoken with him say, but he is running into opposition from his party’s left and from Democratic Congressional leaders who contend that his political capital would be better spent on health care and other priorities.

Mr. Obama considered announcing the formation of a Social Security task force at a White House “fiscal responsibility summit” that he will convene on Monday. But several Democrats said that idea had been shelved, partly because of objections from House and Senate leaders.

The president signaled in his campaign that he would support addressing the retirement system’s looming financing shortfall, in part by applying payroll taxes to incomes above $250,000. But that would ignite intense opposition from Republicans, especially with the economy deep in recession.

Liberal Democrats are already serving notice that they will be equally vehement in opposing any reductions in scheduled benefits for future retirees. But any solution, budget analysts said, must include a mix of both approaches, though current beneficiaries would see no change.

President Bush ran into a buzz saw of opposition when he tried to put forward a Social Security reform package at the beginning of his second term, and quickly backed off when in the face of Democratic opposition and Republican reluctance.

Will Obama be forced to do the same in order to keep the focus on the rest of his agenda ?