
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, July 2, 1990                   TAG: 9007030367
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

THAT PROMISE

CYNICISM about politicians, their motives and their actions is endemic in every culture where the breed exists. In our own country, one of many acerbic sayings about politicians is that their platforms are meant to run on, not to stand on.

In view of this, it is surprising how much of a beating President Bush is taking for retreating from his no-new-taxes pledge of the 1988 campaign.

The rebuke from his party's right wing could be expected. But out in the countryside, Americans of less ideological bent seem incensed at the president. Radio talk shows, one barometer of popular sentiment, have buzzed with callers' resentment. A frequent comment is that Bush is just like other politicians. Why that should surprise anyone has not been explained.

The president deserves chastising for making a promise that was a piece of calculated political demagoguery - a promise that, if he could keep it, would obviously prolong and aggravate out-of-control federal deficits. He should not be pilloried for abandoning a position that has long since ceased to be tenable.

Bush's backdown will be only a footnote in the history books. Their pages contain ample examples of political promises stoutly made and soon abandoned. Jimmy Carter would cut defense spending. Lyndon Johnson would not send American boys to do the fighting that Asian boys should do. Franklin Roosevelt, scandalized by Hoover's $4.6 billion budget for 1932, would reduce federal outlays. And so on.

Some political promises should be kept. But circumstances change, and so should people. "A foolish consistency," said Emerson, "is the hobgoblin of little minds." We don't want small-minded leaders.

by CNB