Just finished reading the State of the Union address and Rep. Dick Gephardt's (D-Mo.) response. They were both well done and, for all appearances, set a less-partisan tone in Washington. Of course, Gephardt isn't in a position to be an obstructionist like Sen. Tom Daschle is.

My only quibble with either speech was Gephardt's apparent refusal to make any changes in Social Security. He referred to the proposed partial-privatization as "gambling in the stock market." Fine. Then let us take that 1/3 of our Social Security tax and put it in certificates of deposit, or some savings account. A 2 percent return on investment is far better than what Gen-Xers would get from Social Security.