Is there a term for political backpedaling?
I don’t think there is such a specific term. But you’re already most of the way there with “backpedaling”. It’s a metaphor that is richly descriptive. Only if the context isn’t political would you need to include “political” and so “backpedal” does a lot of work in a single word. Although, it occurs to me that you may not quite want what “backpedaling” conveys given that you mention “strategy”. “Retreat” in this context would imply a strategy, while “backpedal” implies a more disorganized and hasty retreat from a probably foolish attack. However, your example and what is typical of the Bush administration lately are such that “backpedaling” is more accurately descriptive than “strategy”. I think reporters and commentators of political news might use something like “change strategy” or “change tack” to describe an orderly, intelligent retreat from a strategy. “Cutting and running” implies a near-complete explicit concession of the disputed position—an implication that may not be appropr
