Considering his campaign platform, President Bush's first order of business seemed a bit peculiar.

On his first full day in office, Bush moved to deny federal funding to overseas abortion counseling groups.

For someone who trumpeted the issues of education and tax reform and maintained a vague stance on abortion during the campaign, Bush's eagerness to rescind the counseling funds seems hasty, partisan and personal.

Though it came on the 28th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, there is currently nothing in the courts to act as a driving force behind such a motion.

Bush's effort is misguided, as cutting this federal aid not necessarily achieves his goal of stopping abortions and may indeed hurt it.

A large chunk of the federal aid that Bush wishes to deny overseas abortion groups goes toward counseling — counseling that could help women find suitable alternatives to abortions.

Cutting these funds is also obviously a threat to the availability of abortions at these counseling groups, which again does not ensure that abortions do not take place.

This only ensures that they will not be done medically or fomally, but rather in a relatively unsafe, "back-alley" fashion.

Fortunately, Bush claims there will be no deduction in the funding for overseas family planning — hopefully this is proven true, though he has placed restraints on how the funding is used.

But the real issue here is not so much abortion as the shift in character of the person selected to run our country.

Suddenly, we are seeing a much more conservative man than who spoke at the debates and political rallies last fall — not the man who sold himself to female voters as a moderate on women's issues.

By selecting such a divisive issue for the onset of his term, Bush sends out a message that he is drawing back the olive branch that he promised to extend after the tumultuous election.

Such a rash initial change sets a reckless tone for Bush's presidency. Immediately diverging from his platform leaves voters wondering what the new president has up his sleeve.

At least there's one thing Americans can be sure of — it definitely feels like a new face has stepped into the Oval Office.