Did Bush admit to making a big mistake?

Robert Novak writes (via Memeorandum):

George W. Bush, who is not prone to confessing mistakes, has confided to close associates that he committed a whopper on Social Security. He admitted error in pushing for new personal accounts while not stressing the repair of the safety net for seniors.

What kind of a big mistake is that confessing to? It's only saying that he regrets not ladling on more reassurance!

Thanks to the orchestrated effort of the AARP and organized labor even in the most Republican districts, GOP lawmakers encountered angry opposition to President Bush's plans at town meetings. These pressure groups have overwhelmed the campaign for personal accounts by planting fear among 50-something voters.

So the fault confessed to is only the failure to get out in front of those groups who are really at fault.

It didn't take the work of "pressure groups" to make people my age worry about a drastic new plan to replace something that has worked well enough and is just going to need some tweaking. Our worry is a basic, conservative, rational response and not some out-of-it fear that had to be "planted" in us by outsiders.