Bush Adept at Science of Compromise

President Bush’s decision on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research does not fully satisfy either side of the debate on the volatile issue, but it may leave both sides unable to reverse it.

Some conservative Republican foes of federal funding for any such research were disappointed that Bush did not embrace a total ban. But enough rallied behind his compromise allowing the funding under limited circumstances to make it unlikely that the president will face a major challenge from the right.

And while Democrats criticized his decision because they did not think it goes far enough to exploit the groundbreaking potential of stem cell research, they may have lost key Republican allies they would need to overturn the Bush policy in Congress.

The bottom line is that Bush, faced with the toughest test yet of his ability to hold his party together on a contentious social issue, seems to have found a compromise that will avoid open intraparty warfare--and divisions that the Democrats could exploit.

“There’s no way the Republicans are going to turn their back on him,” said Marshall Wittmann, a conservative analyst at the Hudson Institute think tank. “There are going to be some who feel betrayed, but it will not cause a break with the administration.”

The stem cell issue is the latest in a series of potentially divisive issues that Bush has handled by moving to the center, if only slightly. On patients’ rights legislation and proposals to cap energy prices in California, for example, Bush compromised enough to defuse opposition to his original position but not so far as to lose his conservative base. By limiting stem cell use to existing cell lines, Bush would restrict research much more tightly than did the Clinton administration. As a result, some scientists fear that they will not be able to reap the full scientific potential of the cells.

“Once again, the president has done the bare minimum in order to try and publicly posture himself with the majority of Americans,” said House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.).

For many Democrats, in fact, Bush’s proposed compromise on stem cell research was no compromise at all.

“He went as far as he could while still maintaining his far-right-wing support,” said Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks). “We only get as much science as the far right would allow.”

Previously, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) had promised that if Bush’s proposal fell short, he would bring before the Senate this fall legislation that would lessen restrictions on the funding for stem cell research. After Bush spoke, Daschle seemed to indicate he would proceed with such a measure. “On an issue such as this--one that could pave the way for groundbreaking research into the cures for debilitating diseases like cancer, Alzheimer’s and diabetes--the Senate will want to take action,” Daschle said.

But Daschle’s hopes of beating Bush on the issue dwindled when many Republicans who back expanded funding for stem cell research endorsed the president’s compromise.

“The president has done the nation a great service by allowing promising embryonic stem cell research to proceed while maintaining strong restrictions on the extent of the research,” said Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), who proposed a compromise that would have allowed broader funding of embryonic stem cell research, within specified restrictions.

“I think he resolved it as well as it could be resolved at this time,” said Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), who backed even broader funding than did Frist.

Bush’s decision marks the end of long, agonized deliberations. It was a particularly tricky political issue because it was the first major decision that tested his willingness to challenge his conservative base on an issue that enjoys broad support in the public at large.

For all his talk during the campaign of being a “different kind of Republican,” polls suggest his presidency has continued to divide the public along ideological lines, with conservatives strongly approving of his performance. But if Bush stuck with their position on banning stem cell research, some of his advisors feared he risked being portrayed as capitulating to religious conservatives just as he is trying to reach out for support among socially moderate voters.

On the other hand, if he allowed funding and was seen by conservatives as betraying a campaign promise they took very seriously, Bush risked demoralizing the party’s activist core.

It was a particularly difficult subject for Bush because, unlike many of the issues on which he has been negotiating with Congress--tax cuts, health care regulation, energy policy--it is less amenable to splitting the difference.

On stem cell research, many religious conservatives argued that any such activity is tantamount to murder, an issue on which there are no acceptable shades of gray. Three Republican House leaders called such research an “industry of death.”

However, Bush had been given considerable political cover to move toward the center on the issue after several anti-abortion Republicans--such as Hatch and Frist--came out in favor of funding stem cell research, with limitations.

Some Republicans argued that the political risk of alienating their party’s right wing would be outweighed by the opportunity it afforded to signal that he would not always defer to religious conservatives.

“What Bush couldn’t afford to do was look like he was in the pocket of the religious right,” said James Pinkerton, a political strategist and columnist who served on the White House staff during the administration of Bush’s father.

In his compromise, it appears Bush found a formula that opened the door to the research--but so narrowly that most of his conservative supporters could live with it. James Dobson, a conservative religious leader, said that Bush “found a good solution.”

Others suggested the issue introduces some quiet strains in Bush’s relations with the anti-abortion movement. “It causes some difficulty, some questioning of his commitment,” said Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), a leading opponent of any funding for stem cell research.

Added House Minority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas), “I’m worried that this initial research may ultimately serve as a pretext for vastly expanded research that does require the destruction of new living embryos.”

Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.), an abortion opponent who was in his district when Bush made his speech, praised the president for laying out the complexity of the issue, even as the congressman weighed whether he could support even limited funding for the research he has opposed.

“It’s not black and white; there are moral gray areas here, very difficult questions about when life begins,” he said. “I will pray about it.”

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Times staff writers Mark Z. Barabak in Los Angeles and Tony Perry in Michigan contributed to this story .