Kuo points out how the support for Bush gets garnered among those who find comfort in his talk of Compassionate Conservativism, and then that seems to do it for them. No further “political capital” is required to be spent. The money is suddenly unavailable when it comes time to deliver the goods. And the supporters keep referring to the “faith-based intitiatives” as indicators of how serious Bush is. If only they realized the difference between campaign and policy. The Bush administration knows that the details aren’t what win the day for them. The fact that his supporters can keep cheering and lauding him for Compassionate Conservatism is the evidence that the administration needs that they don’t have to put their money where their mouth is.

David Kuo on why Bush’s faith-based initiative has floundered — Beliefnet.com

…over time it became clearer that the White House didn’t have to expend any political capital for pro-poor legislation. The initiative powerfully appealed to both conservative Christians and urban faith leaders – regardless of how much money was bei
ng appropriated.