The White House Skips A 'White House Conference'

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Because the White House Conference on Aging is held only once a decade, each conference is a big deal. So why wasn't President Bush there to hear the discussion?

Every state sent a congressional delegate. Every patient-advocacy group and government agency concerned with aging did also. What's more, the Bush administration deemed the event especially important because waves of baby boomers will turn 60 or 70 before the next conference.

The President was instead in nearby northern Virginia, touting his disastrous Part D Medicare Drug Plan "benefit" to senior citizens who understandably can't make sense of it. Part D, Bush style, offers over 60 separate options, none of which cover the same combination of medicines or cost the same amount.

Two conference working sub-groups took notable actions. The sub-group on Social Security declared privatization a bad idea; and the one on Medicare judged Part D a lousy benefit.

AFSCME had the largest union delegation.