For Gov. Bob McDonnell, the culture wars are a series of skirmishes. As a conservative, he makes no secret whose side he's on. But his approach is hit and run. For example, he used his veto to erase $424,000 in taxpayer funding for public broadcasting only after it was too late for the legislature to override it. His rationale for the veto: Public broadcasting is not a core function of government.
McDonnell's approach was subtly effective, recalling that great scene in "It Happened One Night": Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable are trying to flag a ride. Drivers ignore his thumb but not her leg — when she shows a little of it.
McDonnell's base was thrilled by the veto. (Disclosure: I'm paid by Richmond's public radio and television stations to provide political analysis.) But conservatives may have missed "What Happened the Next Day": Depicting such giveaways as a job-generator, he announced $4.6 million in tax breaks and other goodies for the filming in Virginia of a historical drama on Abraham Lincoln.
And not just to anyone: Steven Spielberg, a symbol of the deep-pocketed, film-colony strain of Democratic liberalism that some conservatives say permeates public broadcasting. To contemporary conservatives, more aggravating than that perceived bias is that they are paying for it — never mind that public television was a soapbox for an icon of the right, William F. Buckley.
With Democrats, Spielberg is generous to a fault, last year stroking checks for nearly $125,000. Last month, he was at President Barack Obama's side for a Hollywood fundraiser that was about good will as well as green for Obama's re-election bid. The Wall Street Journal said the trip was designed "to smooth over relations with liberal Democrats … frustrated with his move to center."
McDonnell may face a similar problem. With visions of national office dancing in his head, McDonnell works, not always with ease, to take the edge off his conservatism, hoping to reach — and hold — an audience beyond his core constituency. The results are occasionally tortured, if not contradictory.
To wit, McDonnell hinted at anti-bias protections for gay state workers, but — because he's hard-wired to do so — defaulted right. Early in his term, he refused to extend a Democratic executive order providing such legal safeguards but promised nonetheless to be a nice guy to gays. The pattern was recently repeated when he said it's OK for a single gay person — but not a gay couple — to adopt children.
Such hairsplitting becomes riskier as a politician scales the greasy pole of power. Signaling his availability for the GOP vice-presidential nomination, McDonnell could find his biggest doubters are those naturally inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt: conservatives who dislike government handouts because they end up in the pockets of those, whom they believe, don't need them — be it Big Bird or Spielberg.
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