Bush Focuses On Social Security, But Reforms Will Be A Struggle; Personal accounts may solve long-term woes, boost deficit short term.(A)

Byline: JED GRAHAM

President Bush didn't wait long after his re-election to make clear that Social Security reform would be a top priority of his second term.

"We'll start on Social Security now," Bush said at his first post-election press conference. "The president must have the will to take on the issue -- not only in the campaign, but now that I'm elected."

That shouldn't have come as a surprise, given how he governed in his first term: When the president says he plans to do something, he usually does it.

Social Security may not have been a central issue for most voters, but for the second straight campaign, Bush didn't shy away from an issue that few politicians have had the nerve to broach in decades past.

He again made clear that he wants to fix the retirement program's long-term financial outlook, at least partly by letting individuals put a share of their Social Security contributions in a new system of personal investment accounts.

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