Former White House Offical Accuses President of ‘Compassion Contradiction’

Left-leaning bloggers are praising a former Bush administration official, John J. DiIulio Jr., for accusing the president of failing to be a “compassionate conservative” in several recent decisions.

In an opinion article in The Philadelphia Inquirer, the former head of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives writes that while Mr. Bush has followed through on some pledges to help the needy, he is hurting America’s poor by not supporting an expansion of a federal program to give health insurance to impoverished children.

“Several recent administration positions on social policy contradict the compassion vision Bush articulated,” writes Mr. Dilulio, a Democrat who is now a professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania.

David Kuo, another former Bush White House official, hails Mr. Dilulio’s commentary in a blog posting on Beliefnet.com, a religious Web site.

“His voice matters a lot. And what he says here — between the lines as well as in the words — brings home the sadness of this Bush presidency… that of all things to be compromised, Bush compromised his compassion first,” writes Mr. Kuo, who is Beliefnet’s Washington editor.

What do you think? Do you support Mr. Dilulio’s position? Click on the comments link below this post to share your thoughts.