Former first lady Barbara Bush teamed up with her son the president yesterday in Atlanta in trying to drum up support among older Americans for his Social Security and Medicare plans.

He called his 80-year-old mother "my favorite senior citizen," and she tartly reminded him that at 59 he was almost one himself, with hair starting to turn white.

At a senior center and before an invitation-only audience at a downtown civic center, the mother-and-son team promoted Bush's embattled Social Security restructuring plan and the new Medicare prescription-drug program that takes effect Jan. 1.

At the Wesley Woods senior center, both Bushes emphasized the importance of signing up for the new prescription-drug plan, part of a Medicare restructuring enacted in December 2003.

As Bush started to talk up the plan, his mother turned to him and said, "Weren't you going to tell people they ought to ask doctors, lawyers, people they trust whether this is a good deal for them?"

"Yes, I am," he said, repeating what she said, adding, "This is a good deal."

"It saves them money," Barbara Bush said.

"And save money, yes," the president said. When Bush said he and his mother would go around the room to shake hands, she pointed to the right and told him, "You go that way."

"She's still telling me what to do," Bush said.

In his civic-center speech, Bush expressed concern that the benefits of the plan may not be initially appreciated by many of the 42 million eligible Americans who receive Medicare benefits. Literature and forms go out Oct. 1 and enrollment begins Nov. 15.

Turning to Social Security, Bush said nothing in his proposal for individual investment accounts would reduce benefits for current retirees or those close to retiring. "Seniors have nothing to worry about.... What you should be worried about is whether your grandchildren are going to get any checks."

Hughes promises four-front assault

Pledging to mobilize all sorts of public and private efforts to polish the United States' tarnished image abroad, Karen Hughes yesterday outlined a four-front assault in a "struggle of ideas" that she predicted would span generations.

"Perceptions do not change quickly or easily," she told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which is considering her nomination as undersecretary of state for public diplomacy.

Hughes said the U.S. must "engage more vigorously" in the battle for ideas, particularly in the Muslim world.

In addition to engagement, she called for three more "E" pillars: vibrant exchange programs, and education and empowerment initiatives. "People cannot give a fair hearing to our ideas if they are unable to consider them," she said.

Only the committee chairman, Sen. Dick Lugar, R-Ind., and Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, attended the hearing.

The panel is expected to vote on her nomination next week.

IP enforcement officer appointed

The Bush administration said yesterday it created a position to coordinate government efforts to combat the foreign theft of copyrighted products.

President Bush selected Christian Israel, a deputy chief of staff at the Commerce Department, to fill the new post of coordinator of international intellectual-property enforcement.

One of Israel's early priorities will be monitoring recent pledges made by China to crack down on the piracy of U.S. movies, music and software.

Also

Senators next week will consider whether to repeal the estate tax, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said yesterday.

Compiled from The Associated Press