President George W. Bush
likes to call Democratic presidential
nominee John Kerry
a "flip-flopper." But Bush's
own record of political
switchbacks and glaring self-contradictions
is long and twisted enough
that he's the one who deserves the title
"Flip-Flopper-in-Chief."
Some of the many examples
include:
Homeland security. Bush famously
opposed the creation of a new Department
of Homeland Security, arguing
it would simply establish a vast new
federal bureaucracy. Then, when it
became clear he was on the wrong side
of the debate, he shamelessly lurched
around and took ownership of the
idea.
The 9/11 Commission. In the wake
of his about-face on the Homeland
Security Department, Bush went on
to perform a klutzy series of pirouettes
on the issue of the 9/11 Commission:
He opposed its creation, and then
endorsed it. He resisted letting
National Security Adviser Condoleeza
Rice testify in a public session, and
then consented. And he opposed giving
the commission a time extension
to finish its work before doing a back
flip and supporting it.
To complete these political gymnastics,
Bush attempted what might
best be described as a somersaulting
flip-flop with an extra half-twist: He
first opposed the commission's key
policy recommendations, then embraced
watered-down versions of
those recommendations, and finally,
under pressure, relented and went
with stronger versions of the recommendations.
Few judges thought he
stuck his landing.
Foreign policy. Bush has frequently
done the Texas two-step on the
world stage. For example, he first
opposed offering incentives to North
Korea in nuclear negotiations and
then turned around and opened the
door to the idea of resumed oil and
food shipments. But this reversal
seems almost insignificant compared
with what history may regard as the
grandest flip-flop of them all: Bush
vowed as a presidential candidate to
conduct a "humble" foreign policy;
he then proceeded as president to
establish an audacious doctrine of
aggressive unilateralism.
Global warming. Bush has been
steadfast in his stubborn opposition
to the Kyoto Protocol on global
warming. But in his campaign for the
presidency, he pledged his own initiative
to set mandatory reductions in
carbon dioxide emissions by power
plants. He cravenly abandoned that
position after only a few months in
office -- under pressure from conservative
activists, coal producers, and
some congressional Republicans. In a
letter to several Republican senators,
Bush explained that "new information"
from a Department of Energy
report indicated that mandatory
emission reductions for carbon dioxide
would lead to "significantly higher
electricity prices."
The Social Security surplus. Just
before Bush sent that letter on the carbon
dioxide issue, he laid the groundwork
for another head-spinner. He
pledged to the nation in a weekly
radio address that he would "keep the
government from raiding the Social
Security surplus." That promise went
out the window in dramatic fashion
within a year. Bush's next budget
called for dipping into Social Security
surpluses every year through 2013 --
ultimately siphoning off more than
$1.4 trillion in Social Security funds.
Campaign finance reform. As a
presidential candidate in 2000, Bush
vocally opposed the McCain-Feingold
campaign finance reform legislation.
But as president he twirled around in
the political winds and signed it into
law. At the bill-signing ceremony,
Bush compounded his hypocrisy by
declaring "reservations" about the
bill's restrictions on issue advertisements
by independent groups. Two
years later, in the heat of a new presidential
campaign, he switched back
again and took a wholly different view
of those very same independent
groups, known as "527s." Standing in
the driveway of his Texas ranch in
August, he told reporters, "I don't
think we ought to have 527s. I can't
be more plain about it. ... I think
they're bad for the system. That's why
I signed the bill, McCain-Feingold."
Steel tariffs. Bush's contortions on
the McCain-Feingold law fit into a
pattern with other opportunistic
flip-flops apparently aimed at bolstering
his re-election prospects.
Some have been conspicuous in their
battleground-state electoral calculations
(or miscalculations). A prime
example was Bush's flip-flop on steel
tariffs. After long posturing as a free
trader, he decided to curry favor
with voters in such swing states as
Pennsylvania and West Virginia by
imposing tariffs on imported steel.
After only 21 months, he then reeled
around and reversed that policy. By
that time, it had become clear to
many analysts that while the tariffs
were helping steel producers in
Pennsylvania and West Virginia,
they were hurting steel-consuming
manufacturers in other battleground
states, such as Ohio and Michigan.
Worse yet for Bush's electoral calculations,
the European Union was poised
to impose retaliatory sanctions on
oranges from the critical battleground
state of Florida. The Flip-Flopper-in-Chief simply couldn't allow that.
