Posted on 04/03/2004 10:26:53 AM PST by kattracks
WASHINGTON (AP) — While his re-election campaign is capable of lightning-quick responses, President Bush himself is often slow to respond to major dilemmas until forced to do so by rising political heat.Bush had refused to allow national security adviser Condoleezza Rice to testify before the panel investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks — even after members of Bush's own party, including the panel's Republican chairman, complained.
He finally relented last week, but not until the White House had gone into full damage-control mode.
Perhaps learning from that episode, the administration did a quick public relations pivot later in the week when OPEC announced a price-rising reduction in oil production of 1 million barrels a day.
The White House at first said merely that prices should be set by market forces to ensure adequate supplies. But three hours later, in a dramatic shift in tone, it said Bush was disappointed in the oil cartel's action and that administration officials were in contact with oil-producing countries.
The about face followed criticism from Democratic rival John Kerry that Bush, a former oilman, was slow on the uptake.
As a presidential candidate four years ago, Bush had pledged to use his political influence and "jawbone OPEC" to keep oil prices in check.
Bush has often found himself boxed in by his own statements, sometimes making it hard to act until the pressure becomes overwhelming.
"He is not the most subtle president in terms of leaving escape clauses in his statements about what he stands for," said American University political scientist James Thurber. "So he seems as if he's digging in his heels — and then is forced to compromise."
It's a pattern Bush has set before, one of seeming to be intractable even to the point of political damage:
_He waited until the last minute last December before lifting 20-month-old tariffs on foreign steel. By delaying so long, Bush made it look like he bowed to pressure from the European Union, which was poised to slap $2.2 billion in sanctions on U.S. products. Bush's move will hurt steel makers in states critical in the November presidential election.
_He has never taken responsibility for the fact that weapons of mass destruction haven't been found in Iraq, or acknowledged that intelligence on them may have been faulty. His public jokes about not finding such weapons didn't help, drawing protests from military families.
_ It took Bush weeks to take personal responsibility for his erroneous State of the Union claim in January 2002 that Saddam Hussein was shopping for nuclear materials in Africa. First, he let CIA Director George Tenet and a national security aide take the blame, giving ammunition to Democrats and other Iraq war critics.
_The White House continues to refuse to budge on releasing information about closed-door meetings of Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force, which crafted the administration's energy policy. The matter is now before the Supreme Court.
_His dogged insistence in 2001 on creating a national defense against incoming ballistic missiles from hostile states wore down most of his international and domestic critics.The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, using airplanes, undercut his early emphasis on missile attacks as the nation's biggest security concern.
Restricting Rice's availability, and his own, to the Sept. 11 commission fueled Democratic criticism that the White House had something to hide in the controversy caused by former counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke's accusation that Bush's fixation on Iraq undermined the war on terror.
When he finally capitulated last week and agreed to let Rice testify under oath and in public, and agreed that he and Cheney would go before the full commission in a private session, much of the damage had been done — and it looked like Bush was buckling to political pressure.
The battle over Rice's testimony "was distracting from focusing on the substance," said James Steinberg, a former national security aide in the Clinton administration. Putting aside questions of executive privilege and allowing Rice to testify publicly "was an important thing that had to be done, given the importance of the issue," Steinberg said.
George Washington University historian Leo Ribuffo said Bush isn't the first president to appear intractable in public. Presidents Truman, Eisenhower and Johnson had similar stubborn streaks that sometimes got them into political hot water, Ribuffo said.
Ribuffo noted that Bush usually compromises in the end, and that his obstinacy may seem heightened in the contrast with his predecessor, Bill "Clinton, who would change his views on anything at the spur of the moment."
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EDITOR'S NOTE — Tom Raum has covered Washington for The Associated Press since 1973, including five presidencies.
Let's see, I recall the Kerry campaign quoting some supposed vet who freepers found photographed prominently at a Wes Clark campaign rally.
As to the rest of this "piece", Raum sounds like a jilted school girl with his petulant tone. It doesn't help that he is merely regurgitating DNC talking points that are inaccurate (to put it in the best light).
And last I checked, the statement from the State of the Union about Hussein seeking uranium from Africa has NOT been shown to be erroneous.
I didn't say that stubbornness is a virtue or that it is a vice.
and....
(From Merriam-Webster) principle - (2) a rule or code of conduct
Being "principled" can be either good or bad, depending on your rule or code of conduct.
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