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Jennifer: I don't know if Rudy's criticism of Hillary $5,000 in every new born's pot is compelling, at least not when he's reduced to saying things like "Programs to help kids that can't afford college make sense." Don't we already have tons of such programs, all of which have brought about such a federal subsidy racket that college costs go up faster each year than a NASA rocket? I haven't heard any response from Newt to Hillary's neonatal bombshell, but I bet it will be sharper and point to the essential concession (however inadvertent) she's made to the benefits of growth-oriented accounts ("...a $5,000 account that will grow over time..."). Let her have that, but insist on expanding the concept to include privatized Social Security, health-savings accounts, and all the other features of an entitlement regime that will survive only if such principles gain the upper hand.

What's more, Republicans have a golden opportunity to use Hillary's idea of baby bonds as growth vehicles against the essential sham of the Social Security lockbox -- surely young wage earners-voters have no loyalty to the SS system. If instead the GOP response remains nothing more than shrieks that Hillary's idea is a budget-buster, Republicans will again seize defeat from the widening jaws of possible victory.

In other words, the time is right to call her on the $5,000, and raise her.

topics:
Social Security