George W. Bush presented himself not as a normal conservative, but as something he called a “compassionate conservative,” thus preserving a certain amount of ambiguity. Some focused on the “conservative”: they expected the Bush administration’s fiscal policy to keep a tight rein on spending and to eliminate many programs in order to finance significant tax cuts.
努南说的不全对。乔治·W·布什并没有把自己打扮成普通的保守主义者，而是他自己所谓的“富于同情心的保守派，”这样就留下了混淆的空间。有些人理解成“保守派”：他们认为布什政府的财政政策会严格控制开支、取消大量项目，进而实现大规模降低税赋。