Why isn’t this on the front page of the New York Times?

With no consensus in sight, even among Republicans, the chairmen of the Senate and House committees with jurisdiction over Social Security have decided to postpone further consideration of the issue at least until September.

With every passing week, the prospects for major Social Security legislation, President Bush’s top legislative priority, appear dimmer.

The combination of Sandra Day O’Connor’s retirement and the Karl Rove/Valerie Plame controversy is overshadowing the failure of private accounts, which is huge news. Bush staked his “political capital” on it; he said he’d keep touring the country until he passed it; he claimed a mandate; etc. And he can’t even get a bill out of committee! Yet the media — which beat up Bill Clinton for months when his health care bill failed — has dropped the issue off the agenda.