Social Security Divides Candidates

John McCain and Barack Obama are pitching profoundly different approaches to saving Social Security, the Washington Post reports. While McCain favors a mix of strategies including raising the retirement age, reducing increases in benefits, and introducing private savings accounts, Obama intends to bolster the program with higher taxes on upper-income workers.

Each candidates criticize the other's plan, but many experts question Obama’s attempt to offer any fix for a problem usually evaded on the campaign trail. "From the standpoint of the Democratic Party, I would think it would make the most sense to leave it alone," said one policy expert. "It's not an immediate, pressing issue." (More Social Security stories.)