WASHINGTON — Over a roller-coaster week, the Terri Schiavo case demonstrated both the political gains religious conservatives have achieved over the last generation and the challenges they still face in building a consensus for their agenda.
The aggressive intervention by President Bush and congressional Republicans in the conflict underscored their commitment to social conservative causes, while the muted, hesitant response from most Democrats highlighted their uncertainty about handling values issues after the 2004 elections.
Yet as legal and political options for extending Schiavo's life dwindled, so did public support for Washington's involvement in the dispute, according to several national polls. In a CBS News survey, opposition was so widespread that even decisive majorities of Republicans, conservatives and white evangelical Christians said Bush and Congress should not have intervened.
To many analysts, the resistance to Washington's role illustrated the challenges Bush and other social conservatives face in forging consensus for a "culture of life" agenda that includes issues such as abortion, embryonic stem cell research and end-of-life cases.
"It is difficult to build a culture of life that covers more than just a handful of issues," said John C. Green, a political scientist at the University of Akron who specializes in religion and politics. "And the more types of issues you try to include under that framework, the more difficult it becomes."
In a nation accustomed to bitter divisions over cultural issues, the Schiavo dispute may have unexpectedly illuminated a point of consensus.
Although a core of social conservative activists passionately embraced the cause of extending the Florida woman's life -- and many Americans felt conflicted about her fate -- the case seems to show the limits of public tolerance for political involvement in such intimate decisions.
"My sense is this is one issue where everybody understands the other point of view," said David Winston, a Republican pollster. "But clearly people don't want government being involved in decisions like this."
Operatives from the two parties divided predictably on the controversy's long-term political effect. Some Democrats said they expected Bush and congressional Republicans would be hurt by the public recoil against Washington's role, while most Republicans said the issue was unlikely to cause lasting damage and could help the party by motivating its most ardent supporters.
