Phase one of the Bush campaign strategy seems to be to attack Kerry on”flip-flopping”. Bush’s recent public statements suggest he has a one-track mind on the topic. His critics counter with two genres of response. Some point to the President’s own flip-flopping, for example most recently changing his position on how much time he will give the panel investigating 9-11. Others suggest that the flexibility to change one’s position in response to changing circumstances and the courage and candor to admit that one’s prior position was mistaken upon further reflection are desireable attributes in a national leader. Bush’s fault, this argument goes, is often that he is too rigid and changes his mind too little. That both diametrically opposite responses are valid indicates the meaninglessness of the entire ‘flip-floppiness’ concept as a measure of a candidate’s fitness. (Who was it who said that the most profound truths are those whose opposites are also true?) This early in the campaign season, the conventional wisdom goes that no one is yet listening (although that may be proven wrong in the 2004 race; polls are already indicating an extraordinarily high proportion of voters who have made up their minds). so this may be a throwaway issue for the Bush campaign. I’m convinced that the Republican big gun will be to tar Kerry with the ‘ultraliberal’ brush. Expecially because Bush is such an inflexible, one-track thinker, I expect a phased rollout of campaign issues so he can focus on one at a time. So we will start to hear the ‘L-word’ later, probably by the end of the summer.