It seems to me that the only principle guiding this administration is political expediency. The only time they buck this trend is to pursue something stupid. You may not remember National Missile Defense but I'm afraid we will remember the crony-pay-back tax cut all too well.
Last summer the White House sold a tax cut that would mainly take effect years down the road as a short-term stimulus. Since then it has repeatedly abandoned the free-market principles it claims to cherish, courting Rust Belt voters with steel tariffs and lavishing farm subsidies on Midwestern swing states. The pattern hasn't gone unnoticed.