By CHRISTIAN BOURGE

WASHINGTON -- Reform is a favorite word of politicians that has different meanings depending upon its use and context.

In some cases reform means exactly what is likely to come to mind for most people: a change and improvement from the status quo.

At other times reform simply means a change to fall into line with the particular ideology of the speaker.

In the minds of many tax-code obsessed, election-emboldened Republicans, the Nov. 2 vote was a present that provided them with what they believe is the power and political capital to push forward with what could be the most radical rethink of the nation's tax laws in generations that has the potential of fulfilling both political definitions of reform.

But while some conservative Republicans have visions of a flat tax or consumption tax dancing in their heads, several top GOP lawmakers this week gave signs that radical reforms are not likely to be made any time soon.

Senate Democrats are expected to create problems on some key GOP policy goals, but the real hurdles could come from within the Republican Party given the lack of consensus on how best to move forward on some top issues, particularly tax reform.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said Tuesday that comprehensive tax reform would be "difficult" to achieve, describing it as an effort to tilt at windmills that he was not inclined to embrace.

Grassley, a tax-reform proponent, said that Bush missed an opportunity to make his case for major reform and convince the American public that reform was needed during the election.

He also advocated a more incremental approach to reform than called for by Bush, signaling that he would go forward with his own efforts in the new year.

One of the first policy proposals trumpeted by President Bush and House and Senate GOP leaders after the elections was major tax reform.

Although no public proposal has been made, tacit in the reform rhetoric has been the likelihood that radical tax-code reforms like the flat tax or national sales tax are likely to be part of the plan.

Such ideas have long been promoted by conservatives on Capitol Hill -- like Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas -- and in the Republican policy machine by activists like conservative gadfly Grover Norquist.

While President Bush has begun assembling a panel to look over possibilities and make proposals, there is a seeming acceptance that the move will be some sort of reconfiguring of the code with a key idea in mind: a less progressive tax system.

This belief was central to comments made by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., when asked by United Press International Friday about the Republican talk of tax reform.

"I would hope we can work together in so-called reforming the tax code and not just keep finding more ways to shift the tax to the wealthiest people at the expense of middle-income Americans," Pelosi said in reference to the Bush tax cuts.

Also inherent in much of the Republican rhetoric on the issue and Democratic response is the inertia behind the GOP.

Talking about the Bush administration agenda broadly Pelosi told reporters that the GOP leadership in Congress will back whatever president Bush wants policy wise.

"If he (Bush) wants it, it will get done in this Congress, in the next Congress," Pelosi told reporters.

But it remains to be seen if this is the case in regards to tax reform as early signs point to problems for any truly radical tax-reform agenda.