Political exit strategies trump reforms.(Main)

Byline: THOMAS OLIPHANT

Congressional Republicans who have floundered in their scramble to promote an exit strategy for Iraq are honing skills on an exit strategy for an equally touchy topic - President Bush's desire to turn Social Security upside down.

With next year's elections looming on the horizon, there does not appear to be a desire to accomplish anything that either deals with the vital program's long-range health or follows Bush's longstanding yearning to partially privatize it.

Instead, the effort is seeking to position electioneering Republicans as being in favor of something that polls and other opinion research indicate is relatively popular.

That something is not investment accounts based on a diversion of some of the revenue from payroll taxes that is used …