The Trouble with Pleasing Everyone

George W. Bush is trying mightily not to lose votes on the fault line of abortion. He's building a really big tent, large enough to fit soccer moms and Christian activists comfortably inside. Several months ago, Bush said Roe v. Wade will not be overturned until hearts are changed and so we should focus on ways to reduce abortion. Last Monday he retreated further from the strict pro-life agenda, saying he would not insist on a "litmus test" for court nominees.

Bush will always call himself pro-life, but it looks as if he is going to fake right and move left (or is it the other way around?) in hopes that pro-choicers will think he's secretly their friend and would never ban abortion. If I had to guess, I would say he is either like his father, seemingly indifferent, or like his mother, seemingly pro-choice. But why should voters have to guess? If he really believes that every abortion is the taking of a human life, would he throw in the towel because not enough hearts agreed with him? Like most of us, Bush may well have a more nuanced position. But why risk revealing it when you can instead send a fuzzy message sufficient to keep voters confounded until the polls close? Actually, it's always tempting to fly below the radar, but this year the public is starved for candor, tired of the pointless manipulation former President Gerald Ford warned against two weeks ago: "Candidates without ideas hiring consultants without convictions to run campaigns without content."

Former Congressman Vin Weber, co-founder of Empower America, says "the old formulation is breaking down in this election, and Bush is testing a new one." The new formulation calls for soothing soccer moms by seeming to retreat from the official platform on abortion, while using religious testimony to quiet the Evangelicals. Bobbie Gobel, who as chair of Iowa's Christian Coalition controls the most sought-after endorsement in the state, concedes that Bush hasn't publicly toed the line on abortion but says she believes that as a "man of God" he will. To explain why she thinks this, she proceeds to tick off the various religious moments that have poured out of the Governor's office: Bush's walk on the beach in Kennebunkport, Me., with the Rev. Billy Graham, after which Bush recommitted his life to Jesus Christ; Barbara Bush's whispering to her son during a sermon on Moses' leading his people, "He's talking to you, George"; his praying with nearly all the ministers in Texas these past six months.

Let's stipulate that the "reinvigoration of his faith" is genuine--but it's also helpful in the here and now. Former Christian Coalition director Ralph Reed says, "His testimony of a profound faith experience does not act as a surrogate for being acceptable on the issue, but it does make it easier to give him the benefit of the doubt because he shares the grassroots faith and values."