Bush cranks up compassion of conservativism

Throughout his presidential campaign, George W. Bush put forth "compassionate conservatism" as a major theme, a twist on his father's promise of a "kinder, gentler" Republican Party. Since Sept. 11, 2001, national security has become the central focus of this Bush White House, and compassionate conservatism seems to have vanished from the lexicon.

But President Bush hasn't become altogether tone deaf to issues of the poor, especially when they threaten to cast his administration as catering excessively to the well-off - an impression that, with another presidential election approaching, would give Democrats an easy bumper sticker.

The latest example is the flap over the increase in the child tax credit, which at the 11th hour had been eliminated for 6.5 million low-income families. When liberal budget analysts cried foul, Bush did not respond with charges of "class warfare." Instead, the issue is being addressed: The Senate last week easily extended the tax credit to those families and on Monday, Bush's spokesman essentially ordered a balky House to do the same.

Analysts, including Democrats, see multiple motives in Bush's appeal to the House, not all of them with one eye fixed to the electoral map. "Sometimes you don't do things just for the votes," says Mark Mellman, a Democratic strategist. "Helping the deserving poor is a fundamental value for the American public."

Of course, the president's actions never stray too far from politics. Even if Bush isn't going to win over a lot of low-income voters with children by putting up to 400 extra dollars in their pockets, he could sway a few. He will also help his image with the crucial middle-class independent slice of the electorate.

"He is maintaining his image as a compassionate conservative, which ... appeals to swing voters," says John Pitney, a political scientist at Claremont-McKenna College with a background in Republican politics. "The narrower aspect of this is two words: West Virginia. It was the decisive state in 2000."

West Virginia, with its large low-income population, had never voted for a Republican in a close presidential election in the 20th century. It was the most surprising state that Bush won in 2000. The Democrats could have used the child tax issue against Bush in 2004 in a state he is keen to take again.

But even if the child tax credit is likely about to disappear as a political matter, a host of looming issues raise the question of how the Bush administration addresses social policies that touch low-income Americans.

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