Problematicizing 'problematic'

Can the word problematic spread even further, and with new meanings? Yes.

"Despite a flurry of Republican activity, including the filing of a new Senate bill on Thursday, the prospects for Social Security legislation remain deeply problematic," the Times leads in a Friday article.

Can the 'prospects' for something be problematic? That would mean, I would think, that the expected or possible future outcomes have problems. But while the article does include some analysis about why senators won't vote for such legislation (it is politically dangerous, and therefore problematic to them), the "deeply problematic" in the first sentence seems to be intended to mean something more like "grim". The article is saying, after all, that the chance of passage is looking low.

Yes, perhaps the prospects are 'problematic' if you have a pro-privatization standpoint (as in, it would be problematic to you that the prospects are bad). But otherwise, the prospects are simply bad.

In general I think Robin Toner's social security coverage is quite good (although this one was co-written with David Rosenbaum, who can be quite the tool). But I think this was very sloppy wording, and/or a reluctance to use a word like 'grim', even if it would be accurate.