What politicians do best: flip-flop — it’s a tradition

McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — Just in time for the Fourth of July holiday weekend comes that great American tradition, flip-flops. No, not the kind you wear to the pool. The kind you hear in the presidential campaign.

Barack Obama flips on campaign financing — rejecting public funds and the limits that go with them — and on protecting telecommunications companies that helped spy on Americans. He used to oppose that; now he favors it.

John McCain has flopped on immigration — he’s emphasizing tough border enforcement first now — and tax cuts. He used to oppose them as irresponsible and now favors making them permanent.

Yet for all the screaming that these and other flip-flops have inspired about hypocrisy, it’s nothing new.

Woodrow Wilson flipped on going to war. Franklin Roosevelt flopped on balancing the budget. Ronald Reagan flipped on abortion. The elder George Bush flopped on raising taxes.

In fact, it happens so often, it’s hard to keep score.

When the other guy does it, it’s pandering. When your guy does it, it’s pragmatic leadership. Some get away with it, such as Wilson, Roosevelt and Reagan. Some, like the first Bush, don’t.

A key factor is timing.

Candidates running for president are arguably more vulnerable to charges that they’re changing positions just to win votes.

“It makes one look unprincipled and unreliable,” said George Edwards, a presidential scholar at Texas A&M University. “If you’re going to vote for someone, in theory it’s because you anticipate they’re going to do certain things. If they’re just pandering, that’s not what we tend to look for in leaders.”

They’re also vulnerable to charges of sacrificing principle if they start changing positions after winning the nomination battle and start pivoting for a broader general election audience, as Obama is doing now.

Obama vowed during the primaries to block legislation granting immunity from lawsuits to telecommunications companies that helped the government spy on U.S. citizens, then he switched after clinching the nomination. He also dropped an earlier promise to take public financing — and spending limits — for the general election campaign.

“For Obama, his support among liberals is rock solid. His only risk is maybe losing the enthusiasm of younger voters,” independent pollster John Zogby said. “If they see him as just another politico, that could be a problem.”

Not every flip-flop registers with voters. Changing on hot-button issues such as abortion or war draws far more attention and resonates with more voters than changing on something such as lawsuit immunity for telecom companies.