News Analysis: Surplus Feast - Will Tax-Cut Appetizer Leave Room for Debt-Slice Dessert? But very little in Washington is exactly what it seems, and this is no exception. Paying down the debt and "saving Social Security first" became, in the Clinton years, Democratic ideas, which Mr. Bush is now paying homage to in an effort to win over Democrats and secure quick passage of his tax cut. The details released today, however, suggest something a bit more subtle. Mr. Bush has now redefined the national debt, so that it looks more manageable. And Mr. Bush's aides are arguing that it does not need to be paid off so fast � which, conveniently, leaves them a bit more room for their own favorite programs, like a national missile defense, new spending on education and creating private Social Security accounts. All of this raises two questions: Which party is pursuing the more conservative course? And what does it say about the ideology of George W. Bush, whose "compassionate conservatism" seemed at times an effort to dress up the philosophy of Ronald Reagan in the moderate poll- tested oratory of Bill Clinton? http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/01/politics/01ASSE.html?pagewanted=all