Fred Barnes: You Can't Always Get What You Want (George W. Bush, politician)

PRESIDENT BUSH IS A CONSERVATIVE politician, not a conservative ideologue. This explains why Bush sometimes does things that aren't conservative. He does so to survive and, if all goes well, to prosper politically. Or he does so because he actually favors some nonconservative policy or position. Conservative politicians are never ideologically pure. "The president works at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, not 214 Massachusetts Avenue N.E.," a Bush administration official says. The Massachusetts Avenue location is the site of the Heritage Foundation, the conservative think tank.

President Reagan, like Bush, was a politician first and an ideologue second. When Social Security was on the verge of insolvency in 1983, he had to act quickly. But he didn't call for benefit cuts or privatization, the conservative positions. That was not politically feasible. He agreed to a tax hike and a modest increase in the age of eligibility. And the issue went away, leaving him politically undamaged and able to pursue his conservative goals, like winning the Cold War.

Calling for a probe of oil companies for possible manipulation of gas prices is Bush's latest nonconservative position. With prices soaring, he was losing ground politically. The public and the politicians, Republican and Democrat alike, were attacking the oil companies--and Bush as well. His job approval rating dipped into the low 30s, the worst of his presidency.

He could have said, no, the free market is working properly. That, while basically true, would no doubt have further injured his political standing. Instead, he moved to take control of the issue and protect himself politically. Two days later, the president conceded he had "no evidence that there's any ripoff taking place." Of course he hadn't. That wasn't the point of his intervention.

His divergence from conservative orthodoxy was probably harmless. "I don't think there's any problem in looking into the possibility of price gouging," the administration official says. "If it doesn't exist--and the odds are quite strong it doesn't--nothing will be lost." In fact, the president gained politically. His approval rating in the Fox News poll rose from 33 percent to 38 percent.

Neither Bush nor White House officials have suggested, publicly at least, that there's a paradox involved in taking nonconservative positions on issues such as gas prices. But it's true that this may shore up the president's popularity and enhance his ability to pursue conservative issues like the war on terror, Iraq, and tax cuts.

Besides political expediency, conservative politicians sometimes stray because they've become enamored of a nonconservative position for policy or political reasons, or both. Reagan wanted to eliminate all nuclear weapons in the world, despite their deterrent value. He insisted on picking a woman, moderate Sandra Day O'Connor, as his first Supreme Court nominee. He met repeatedly with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Conservatives fumed.

Bush's chief apostasy is on the Medicare prescription drug benefit, the first new entitlement in decades. Rather than aiding only needy seniors--perhaps a quarter of the over-65 population--he championed a far more expensive universal benefit. Bush touted it in the 2000 campaign and pushed it aggressively in Congress. It was enacted in December 2003 and implemented this year.

Many conservatives, maybe most of them, opposed the drug benefit. So did Democrats and liberals. And it appeared that the new program might not become the political bonanza that the White House and Republicans had hoped it would be. Month after month, polls found it to be unpopular.

Not anymore. Now that 30 million of the country's 43 million eligible seniors have signed up, the drug benefit has become popular. Ninety percent in a poll by the Tarrance Group say they understand the plan and how to use it. While enrolling may have been difficult and time-consuming, 65 percent say it was worth it. Plus, the monthly fee and the cost of the entire program has turned out to be less expensive than had been projected.

"What ranks among the single best issues Bill Clinton used to club Newt Gingrich and the Republicans in the 1990s?" a Bush adviser says. "Medicare. That issue has essentially been taken off the table since the program was created [in 1965] and over time our proposal may well make Medicare a net plus for Republicans. At a minimum, though, Republicans have been pretty much inoculated against the charges by Democrats."

So in this fall's midterm election, the drug benefit will hardly be an albatross. Republicans will have a positive achievement to brag about. If it helps Republicans stave off a Democratic landslide, its political value will have been confirmed.

There are two points in all this. One, conservative presidents--indeed, conservative elected officials at all levels of government--will always wander from conservative tenets. The test is whether there's a flip side, a strengthening in the fight for conservative aims. And second, even the most sainted conservatives--Reagan, for instance--harbor nonconservative thoughts. If this is an insurmountable problem for conservatives, my advice is, get over it.

I'm not concerned about what Reagan did as Governor of California. I'm concerned what Reagan did as POTUS.

>>>>>Reagan broke his promise never to raise taxes with his “revenue enhancement” programs along with the largest FICA increase in history. Bush hasn’t raised taxes in any way .

Revenue enhancers was a code phrase for tax increases. Just not income tax increases. You're right, Bush has never raised taxes. We just have $450 billion deficits and a $9-trillion debt ceiling instead.

The increase in FICA was on recommendation from the Greenspan Commission on Social Security reform. Conservatives didn't like it, but that decision made SS solvent for 50 years. In his last SOTUS, Bush promised to organize a bi-partisan group, similiar to the Greenspan Commisssion, in order to reform SS on his watch.

>>>>Reagan cut and run in Lebanon after the first taking of casualties.

BULLoney. Following the Marine Barracks bombing, Reagan ordered fighter attacks from the aircraft carriers Independence and Kennedy, launched attacks against terrorist sights in Lebanon. Reagan also ordered the USS New Jersey to shell terrorists outposts within Lebanon. Reagan did stand up to the terrorists. What Reagan didn't do, was exacerbate the civil war that was going on in Beirut and all of Lebanon at that time. There were also geopolitical circumstances to consider that involved the Soviets and their support of Syria.

>>>>Reagan appointed 3 liberals and one conservative to the Supreme Court. Bush hass appointed 2 Conservatives and numerous lower court Conservatives.

More BULLoney. Reagan didn't nominate any liberals to the SCOTUS. Rehnquist and Scalia were solid conservatives. O'Conner and Kennedy were considered moderate conservatives. No POTUS can be sure how his nominees to the SCOTUS will turn out 10-20 years down the road. That goes for Roberts and Alito too.

>>>>Reagan talked a good game on abortion but Bush pushed for and got the late term abortion ban passed.

More revisionism. Reagan was pro-life. Bush is pro-life. PBA wasn't an issue in Reagan's day. It is an issue today.

In his day, Reagan did support legislation that would allow for a challenge of Roe vs. Wade. Reagan adopted the "Mexico City Policy" halting federal aid to private groups promoting abortions abroad.

The Reagan administration cut off funding to the United Nations Fund for Population Activities because the global agency violated U.S. law by participating in China's mandatory abortion program.

The Reagan administration adopted regulations prohibiting federally funded "family planning clinics" from promoting abortion as birth control.

The Reagan White House blocked use of federal money for research using the tissue of aborted babies.

The Reagan administration helped win approval of the "Danforth Amendment," which said federally funded educational institutions could not be guilty of "sex discrimination" for refusing to pay for abortions.

Reagan himself introduced the issue of fetal pain into the public debate over abortion. His administration was key in enactment of laws protecting the right to life of handicapped newborns.

Reagan designated a National Sanctity of Human Life Day, to recognize the value of life at all stages. Reagan also was the first POTUS to address the annual Right to Life March on WashDC and did so on an annual basis.

>>>>Reagan left office and immediately endorsed the Brady Bill in his first public appearance as an ex-president.

Yeah. As a private citizen, Reagan did support the Brady Bill. After all, James Brady was Reagan's Press Secretary and political friend.

>>>>The myth of Reagan is exactly that. A myth.

Wrong. Reagan was a great President. No myth. Just fact.

>>>>You can squirm any way you want.

No squirm here. LOL

Bush has shown he's tough in prosecuting the WOT. He's fairly strong on national defense, just not on securing the borders. Bush is strong on pro-life/right to life issues and on tax cuts too. I just don't believe Bush measures up to Reagan, especially on domestic spending issues, reversing the welfare state, advancing limit government and reducing federal regulations. Even on military spending, Bush is way behind Reagan's defense budgets.

I see the last 26 years as a progression of conservatism. We went from from Reagan, to Gingrich. In 2000 I thought Bush would pick up the Reagan mantle and advance the conservative agenda more then he has. Never thought Bush was Reagan. That would be asking for a political miracle.

After Bush signed off on the trillion dollar Prescription Drug Program, an 86% increase in Education spending, and the three biggest discretionary boondoggles in US goverenmnt history --- the transportation bill, the farm bill and the energy bill --- as with most conservatives, Bush lost my support for his domestic policy agenda.

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a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.