Read My Hips

The question is perhaps best left to psychiatrists, but last week Congressmen, Senators, White House aides and millions of Americans were trying to answer it. How could George Bush -- the World War II bomber pilot, the Commander in Chief who invaded Panama and ousted its dictator, the leader who dispatched more than 200,000 U.S. troops to the Persian Gulf and ably assembled an international alliance to confront Saddam Hussein -- be so wishy- washy?

As Congress squabbled in search of a budget, Bush during three dizzying days switched his position at least four times on the key question of what additional taxes the most affluent citizens should pay to help reduce the budget deficit. On Tuesday morning he declared that he might accept raising income taxes on the wealthy in exchange for his long-sought cut in taxes on capital gains. That afternoon he backpedaled under pressure from Senate Republicans: White House aides announced that Bush did not favor pursuing such a deal. Two days later, facing countervailing pressure from House Republicans, Bush reopened the possibility. Then about an hour later he closed it again.

Asked to clarify his position as he jogged in a St. Petersburg baseball park, Bush pointed to his backside and gibed, "Read my hips." Then, literally and metaphorically, he abandoned the playing field. He later said he would wait for Congress to clear up the confusion he had helped engender. / Bush's vacillation confounded his allies and delighted his opponents. Newspapers across the country bannered headlines studded with words like WAFFLE, RETREAT, BLINK and ZIG-ZAG. Bush's approval rating, which stood in the mid-70s only a month ago, plummeted 10 to 15 points. It was, said a senior Administration official, "the worst week of his presidency." The outpouring of criticism reflected long-held doubts about Bush's approach to domestic affairs. G.O.P. strategists complained that the President's flip-flops had weakened the widespread perception that Congress is more responsible for the budget fiasco than the White House. Complained a top adviser to the President: "We've managed to change the subject from 'Can the Congress pass a budget?' to 'Why isn't the President leading?' "

Moreover, by concentrating on cutting the capital-gains tax, which would benefit mainly the few Americans who earn more than $200,000 a year, the President strengthened the impression that his highest domestic priority is taking care of the rich. Harrison Hickman, a Democratic pollster, gleefully observed that "George Bush has two Achilles' heels -- 'rich' and 'wimp' -- and managed to expose both of them on the same day."

The President and his men naturally downplayed the political damage. Bush told reporters that "these things come and go. The best thing, we get a budget deal, we get a good deal, and people will forget the name calling." But when a budget deal is passed, Bush may have little influence over it, and will have trouble dispelling his image of weakness.