the full assault treatment...

I like this thought, by TM Lutas:

...I'm starting to suspect that Social Security reform is the domestic version of Iraq and Medicare is the domestic version of N. Korea as far as Bush policy goes. Social Security is going to get the full assault treatment because it's strategic, people understand it well, and it's about the biggest problem we can handle with that approach. Medicare is too tough, too confusing, and much more susceptible to a quiet "python" approach...

I think a lot of the opposition to SS reform comes from people who just don't understand the concept of striking at the most brittle problem first, so that success there can provide a template and an inspiration for solving the messier problems. If you've climbed a mountain that is two miles high, then it becomes much easier to organize an expedition to climb a three mile-high peak.

Of course, just as with Iraq, some of the opposition comes from people who DO understand how these things might work.....

You will have to read his post to find out what the "python approach" might be...