The Columbus Dispatch
www.dispatch.com
'Moderate'
Bush fooled Ohio voters, critics say
Allies insist his actions match his campaign
Jonathan
Riskind
Sunday, April 8, 2001
Presidential
candidate George W. Bush's centrist appeal as a big- state
governor more interested in management than ideology often
was cited as a major factor in his victory in Ohio.
But
is President Bush operating as the political moderate Ohio
voters envisioned?
In
less than three months in office, Bush's actions have caused
conservatives to do cheerleading jumps. They approved of
Bush's flip-flop on a campaign promise to restrict carbon-dioxide
emissions; a reversal of guidelines setting stricter limits
on arsenic levels in drinking water; and the blocking of
federal funds to international groups that promote abortions
as a means of family planning, even if they do so with private
funds.
Bush
also has pushed for measures that unions oppose, such as
suspending a federal rule that allows increased scrutiny
of federal contractors.
"The
campaign did a very good job positioning (Bush) as more
moderate,'' said Paul Beck, chairman of Ohio State University's
Political Science Department. "My perception is that
he's more conservative and that his instincts are more conservative
than they appeared to be during the campaign.''
Before
Election Day, analysts and many Republicans said that moderation
was the key to a strong showing by Bush in Ohio, a traditionally
centrist state that turned out to be an important ingredient
in his slim electoral victory. The theory held that Buckeye
State voters viewed Bush, then governor of Texas, as similar
to moderate GOP governors they have elected in recent years:
George V. Voinovich and Bob Taft.
"I
call Bush a 'Taft Republican,' '' Republican pollster Neil
Newhouse said during the campaign. "A Republican who
has a compassionate-conservative message scores extremely
well in Ohio.''
Last
week, Newhouse said it's too early to tell whether Bush's
governing matches his campaign.
"He
has certainly solidified his conservative base,'' he said.
"I don't think the votes are in yet in terms of his
compassionate- conservative positioning.''
A
recent Gallup Poll registered Bush's job- approval rating
at 53 percent, the lowest since he took office and, except
for Bill Clinton, lower than all other first-term presidents
since World War II at the same point.
But
Newhouse said he suspects dropping poll numbers are a result
of the sagging economy as much as any actions by Bush.
A
White House spokesman said candidate Bush and President
Bush are one and the same. Bush has not strayed from major
campaign planks on education, tax cuts, health care and
Social Security reform, said administration spokesman Scott
Stanzel.
"The
president was very clear throughout the campaign,'' Stanzel
said. "He outlined a set of priorities he planned to
act upon when elected, and that's exactly what he's done.''
John
Green, director of the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied
Politics at the University of Akron, was one of the analysts
who said Ohioans thought they were voting for a Voinovich,
not a Reagan.
"You
can certainly make the case that some of the high-profile
things (Bush is) involved in suggest he is somewhat more
ideological than the Bush Ohioans voted for,'' Green said.
Bush
has stayed true to campaign form in lobbying for a $1.6
trillion, 10-year tax cut. But his unwillingness thus far
to compromise, resulting in setbacks to the proposal last
week in the Senate, shows an "early intransigence that
is not suggestive of what Ohioans like,'' Green said.
On
the other hand, Bush seems to be succeeding in his vow to
run the presidency with honor and dignity, he added.
"Bush
has fulfilled the symbolic duties of office well. Ohioans
see that as who they voted for.''
Republican
Rep. Pat Tiberi of Columbus, an enthusiastic Bush backer,
says the president has stuck to his campaign principles.
For
instance, Bush has resisted conservative appeals to increase
his proposed tax cut and put it into effect more quickly,
Tiberi said. And Bush has delivered on his campaign pledge
to propose sweeping national education reforms and spend
more federal money on education.
"There
are issues out there that he's been a conservative Republican
on,'' but there are other issues where he has resembled
a moderate or liberal Republican, Tiberi said. "In
all, he's been exactly what he said he was on the campaign.''
But
David J. Leland, Ohio Democratic Party chairman, argues
that Bush was always a far-right conservative and that he
fooled voters.
"Many
voters didn't expect so many extreme steps to be taken so
quickly,'' Leland said, citing such actions as the rollbacks
on environmental regulations. "I don't think that is
the person who moderate voters in the state of Ohio thought
they were voting for when they cast their vote in November.''
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