No, the president is just servicing the religious conservatives in his party, that's all. This is what the Republican Party has been known to do - appoint religious conservatives to ultimately meaningless positions to make a show for the base, but then do absolutely nothing of substance to advance the conservative causes that motivate the base to vote Republican in the first place. It's a very clever scam that has worked brilliantly for the Republicans for quite some time.
But what about Ashcroft, you say? You mean the same Ashcroft who recently used language indistinguishable from the president of Planned Parenthood in reference to an abortion clinic bomber suspect? The same Ashcroft who apparently experienced a miraculous "Road to Damascus" conversion to orthodox liberalism at his Senate confirmation hearings? The religious right are being taken for fools. Perhaps they'll wake up someday and crash the Washington cocktail parties where these Republican elites celebrate their devious genius.