Flip-flops: as American as July Fourth

To pull it off, good timing is crucial

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 the tax cuts 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."

That's particularly true if they switch just before running, as Mitt Romney did on abortion before seeking this year's Republican presidential nomination, a move that rendered him suspect, especially to social conservatives.

It's also true if candidates change positions while running, as Democrat John Kerry did on funding the Iraq war during the 2004 campaign. Kerry's quote on an appropriation for the war -- "I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it" -- lives on in political infamy.

They are 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.

During the primaries Obama vowed to block legislation granting immunity from lawsuits to telecommunications companies that helped the government spy on U.S. citizens. After clinching the nomination, he switched.

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."