I don't think that amorphous ideology is driving his political agenda. I suspect he is the ultimate accommodationist, an appeaser without peer. Contrast his tepid, protean performance with the doctrinaire conservatism of Ronald Reagan.You mean the same Reagan who raised taxes as a governor and president and who never signed any meaningful abortion legislation?
In reality, neither were/are as conservative as you'd like. Too many Freepers who weren't around back in the day don't realize that Reagan faced very similar complaints.
I mean the same Reagan who gave his utmost effort to reduce the size of government -- ultimately failing in the end, defeated by the demons of NIMBY. I mean the same Reagan who put his faith in the US military and consequently drove the Soviet Union into bankruptcy. I mean the same Reagan who got government out of the business of business, whose "trickle-down" economics were given his name, and which were a triumph of free-market philosophies.
I mean the same Ronald Reagan who would not enter the Oval Office without a suit jacket out of reverence for what the office represented.
THAT is principle. THAT is ideology in action.