But sometimes, of course, the president gets it just right. Speaking to a meeting of the Democratic Leadership Council in Baltimore last Wednesday, the president assayed the governing philosophy of the Republican front-runner.
"This compassionate conservatism has a great ring to it, you know? It sounds so good, and I've really worked hard to try to figure out what it means. I mean, I made an honest effort. And near as I can tell, here's what it means. It means, 'I like you. I do. And I would like to be for the patient's bill of rights and I'd like to be for closing the gun show loophole, and I'd like not to squander the surplus, and you know, save Social Security and Medicare for the next generation. I'd like to raise the minimum wage. I'd like to do these things. But I just can't. And I feel terrible about it."
Much as THE SCRAPBOOK hates to admit it, this sounds about right. Perhaps the president understands "compassionate conservatism" so well because the phrase is so Clintonian. We await his exegesis of Al Gore's "pragmatic idealism."
Coincidentally, as if to confirm the president's suspicions, the same night George W. Bush's spokeswoman Karen Hughes was asked, on MSNBC's Equal Time, whether the compassionate conservative supported raising the minimum wage. Behold comp-con in practice:
"Governor Bush said today that he thinks in some parts of the country there may be an argument for raising the minimum wage. On the other hand, he has concern that the minimum wage, for example here in inner-city Baltimore, where there are young teenage children who want to get summer jobs, where there might be trouble -- where they might have trouble finding jobs if the minimum wage were increased. So he's certainly willing to look at that proposal, but I think there are some concerns that need to be addressed about it."
As near as this can be translated, it means, apparently, that George W. Bush supports raising the minimum wage for everyone but black kids in the ghetto. Compassionate conservatism remains a work in progress.