We Americans tend to disdain heads-of-state we think are the puppets of some special interest or corrupt political philosophy. We think political leaders ought to have a backbone, to stand up to those whose interests benefit only the chosen few. But now, we have our very own puppet head-of-state, President George Bush, who responds with knee jerk thoughtfulness to the demands of his favorite special interests.

The oil and gas lobby pulled one of his strings and he jumped for oil and gas exploration in our new national monuments and along the Florida coast. Then, brother Jeb Bush, who needs to win reelection next year as Florida's governor, groused about the Florida drilling and suddenly, George Bush revised that piece of his energy program.

When the National Rifle Association wanted a demonstration of presidential loyalty, President Bush fell all over himself to comply. First, he said the United States wasn't likely to sign the international agreement limiting small arms sales. This, despite the fact that thousands of American troops are at risk every day, acting as peacekeepers in ethnic conflicts fueled by the availability of small arms.

Next, Bush's Attorney General, John Ashcroft, decided to broaden the long-standing interpretation of the right to own guns, giving the NRA even more than it could have hoped for. Forget the fact that most Americans support reasonable gun laws-this interpretation would make it very difficult to enforce laws passed by state legislatures and citizen initiatives.

Maybe the most outrageous example of a puppet response came with the Salvation Army's offer to help the President win his "faith-based initiative" if he would allow them to discriminate against gays in employment. According to the Salvation Army's own memo, the President promised to issue a regulation protecting religious charities from state and local laws prohibiting discrimination. In the uproar that followed, President Bush quickly backed off a promise that was offensive to most Americans.

When the religious right yanked his string once again, the President offered them a doozy. Call a fetus an "unborn child" and give that fetus rights to medical care that the mother doesn't have. Therefore, a pregnant woman gets health benefits only as the vessel carrying a child.

President Bush leaped at this opportunity to pander to the far right, a crude attempt to criminalize abortions by giving a fetus the legal status of a person. Putting a woman's right to an abortion aside, what does that mean for the mother whose fetus dies because she smokes or drinks or doesn't take adequate care of herself during pregnancy? Does she then become a murderer because her fetus has the status of a person?

When Governor George Bush was campaigning for the presidency, he called himself the "compassionate conservative". He praised himself as a unifier, a leader capable of, and dedicated to, building bipartisan consensus on the toughest issues facing the United States. Now, as President Bush, he has demonstrated that he is neither of these. What is even worse, he has so far acted as if he just doesn't care what the majority of Americans think.

True, the President has backed off a number of his worst decisions, decisions that have taught the electorate to distrust his ability-and his desire-to lead from the political center. The fact that he made those decisions in the first place, without thinking through what is best for America rather than what is best for one of his favorite special interests, demonstrates an inability to listen to a broader point of view. It demonstrates an unwillingness to compromise, even though democracies work by compromise.

We are only 6 months into the Bush II presidency. What we have seen so far is alarming in a country whose decisions have huge impacts around the world. This President Bush needs to start thinking before he acts. He needs to start listening to more interests than just those narrow ones he sees as his political base. He has the time to prove to voters that he is more than just a puppet. He needs to get started.