Phil Klein talks to Charles Djou, the GOP candidate in the House district that includes Honolulu and looks unusually winnable thanks to an open primary that could split the votes of Democrats. Perhaps because of that, and because of the general confidence boost given to Republicans by Scott Brown’s win, Djou doesn’t talk like a candidate trying to win in a place that gave President Obama a 40-point victory.
Asked about the type of measures he would support to fight the fiscal crisis, he mentioned earmark reform and a balanced budget amendment. In the abstract, he said he supported the idea of reining in entitlement spending, but was hesitant to discuss specifics. For instance, he said that President Bush had the right idea by addressing Social Security, and said the concept of voluntary personal accounts “deserves examination,” but wasn’t willing to say he supported a specific plan because he said that Democrats would take him out of context and attack him for wanting to destroy Social Security.
So in what context would supporting the 2005 Bush effort on Social Security and “examination” of private accounts not let Democrats do that?