David Kuo is stuck between the proverbial rock and hard place. As he himself says, "I went to the left and to the right, and I've ended up pretty much in the center" to get funding for the poor.
Since I first heard about David Kuo's upcoming book on the Bush Administration's handling of Faith-based initiatives, I've been reading a bit more to see just where this guy's coming from. Interestingly enough, the current talking points on RawStory and other sites are all about Kuo's bashing of Bush's non-follow-through on the initiatives. News to me of course, since other recent stories on the subject say these programs are increasing dramatically, but there you go. Kuo goes through the numbers, and it's obvious that indeed, funding hasn't come close to the level Bush promised.
Complaints about lack of funding aside, there remain other accusations against the Administration, notably that the "Compassionate Conservative" label created in the early 90s, was co-opted for political purposes. It has always been a mystery to me how Neo-con and Com-con could possibly have anything in common - and as it turns out they don't really, only Neo-con lip service to the term while working towards their own goals.
Kuo says that he believes Bush to be a man of compassion, as well as the men around him. He lays the blame for lack of progress on Congress; Republicans who didn't care, and Democrats who were actively hostile to the programs. While I can understand his view, and believe it has some merit, the Bush Administration couldn't have possibly believed that they could do all that the Com-cons wanted - not only is there the whole separation of Church and State problem (sorry Ms. Harris, that really is the way our founding fathers wanted it), but there were other more pressing problems the Bush Administration needed to focus on, like convincing the American public we had to go to war in Iraq, then actually going to war in Iraq, etc.
It's important to note that Kuo isn't the first member of the Faith Based Initiative to complain about the politicization of faith. A Washington Post article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
...notes that in August 2001, John J. DiIulio Jr., then-director of the faith-based office, became the first top Bush adviser to quit, after seven months on the job. DiIulio said later in an interview that the Bush White House was obsessed with the politics of the faith-based initiative but dismissive of the policy itself, and he slammed White House advisers as "Mayberry Machiavellis."
In the end, David Kuo is stuck between the proverbial rock and hard place. As he himself says, "I went to the left and to the right, and I've ended up pretty much in the center" to get funding for the poor. I think this is an essential point. And the hard place just got harder. Naturally, (yet another) book condemning the Bush Administration is bad enough for them. This one hits one of their last surviving legs; the promise to the Christian conservative that Bush has their interests in mind. The conservatives are already rallying; saying that (ready for it? All together now) "It's a Democratic plot."
http://www.cnsnews.com/...
For me, religion has always been a tricky subject in politics, primarily due to my belief it shouldn't be there in the first place. Yet the vast majority of Americans express a belief of one kind or another, and for them belief comprises their moral compass. By definition, you can't take the religion out of the person. But there needs to be some sort of reality check to apply. In order to protect liberty for all, liberties can't be taken against some. Faith is not fact (except to Creationists, of course). We can all get along, as long as person A doesn't try to enforce personal beliefs on person B. (Yeah, easier said than done, I know.)
People like David Kuo should be applauded not for bringing this expose to us, but for holding to his dedication to improving the lives of the poor and needy, dedication he says is brought out because, as he says, "I believe that Jesus' command to care for the least among us means that we have to bring to social problems every available resource and every best effort. No country can do that better than America and no country needs to do it better than America." I may not believe in much of Christian doctrine, but I've never had a problem with Jesus' teachings, and think that non-Christian and Christian alike could do a lot worse than working towards the goal of making the best effort to alleviate the growing problem of poverty and homelessness in America. My faith is in the Democratic party to make that happen (hear that y'all? don't let me down, now)....
David Kuo's book is called "Tempting Faith: An Inside Story of Political Seduction". It will be available from October 16. You can read a 2005 posting from him on the same topic here:
http://www.beliefnet.com/...