A Large Presidency
Bush isn't overreaching, he's taking on the big problems of our day.
Thursday, January 30, 2003 12:01 a.m. EST
URL:http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110002997
In two short years the liberal establishment has changed its view of President Bush from a not-so-bright scion without an agenda to an evil, even radical, genius. The new view is just as false as the old, but after listening to his State of the Union speech, we can understand their anxiety: They're afraid the Bush project might succeed.
This clearly isn't a mini-me Presidency, à la Bill Clinton and Dick Morris. Mr. Bush laid out an agenda on Tuesday night for transforming both U.S. national security and domestic policy. If successful, it would represent one of the more consequential six-month periods in recent American history. Instead of shrinking from the challenges of the day, or passing them down to future Presidents, Mr. Bush is bidding to use his November victory and high political standing to accomplish things worthy of his office.
The latest media cliché is that this amounts to "overreaching." With a narrow Senate majority, and an increasingly obstructionist opposition, it's true that he may not accomplish it all. But it's also important to note that he isn't inventing the challenges of terrorism, a struggling economic recovery or runaway entitlement spending. They are all real problems, made worse because the last Administration ignored them. Peace and prosperity are any President's first priorities.
On Iraq, Mr. Bush seethed with determination, making clear he is intent on deposing Saddam Hussein with or without U.N.--or Democratic Party--help. He spelled out the Iraqi threat at some length, providing details about Iraq's illegal arms and the extent to which it has gone to conceal its biological, chemical and nuclear programs. He stopped short of a declaration of war, but anyone who observed the look in his eyes knew he meant it when he said this is Saddam's "final chance" and that some "crucial hours" may lie ahead.
He was particularly good in rebutting the argument of merely containing Saddam. "Trusting in the sanity and restraint of Saddam Hussein is not a strategy, and it is not an option," he said. The "lessons of the Korean peninsula" demonstrate the dangers of letting an even greater threat arise in Iraq. We got a glimpse of where the Administration's postwar priorities might lie when he warned of the dangers of weapons of mass destruction making their way into the hands of terrorists.
On the domestic front, Mr. Bush renewed his call for tax cuts to help lift an economy struggling under the uncertainty of potential war and still recovering from the bursting of the 1990s bubble. This is a good strategy; the first Bush tax cut helped make the recession milder than it might have been, and a new one now will help amid war. It's worth noting, too, that a tax cut is not just about the economy but also the size of government. Wars typically expand government, and one of the virtues of a tax cut is that it will help enforce spending discipline.
The President's plan to reform Medicare is perhaps his riskiest proposal politically. Yet this too is not optional, unless he wants to do what his predecessor did and pass the buck down to future generations. Mr. Bush understands that the prescription drug benefit is rare political leverage that he can use to reform Medicare in a way that makes it more responsive to market forces and less likely to break the budget or lead to Canadian-style health care. If the GOP in Congress misses this chance, it may not have another--and a generation of about-to-retire Baby Boomers will suffer the consequences.
Mr. Bush laid out other priorities, some of which are valuable while others, such as his proposed subsidy for a hydrogen car, look too overtly political. His proposed ban on partial-birth abortion and long-overdue limits on medical malpractice awards will be mau-maued by liberal Democrats beholden to feminists and trial lawyers, but wide public support for both means moderate Democrats will likely join with Republicans to pass legislation. We're reserving judgment on his AIDS proposal until more details emerge; this is a human catastrophe and the U.S. ought to be able to help.
In his two years in office, Mr. Bush has confounded Washington and his media-Democratic critics, not just because he's not as dumb as they thought but because he views the White House as more than a nice place to live. He means to accomplish big things, he is risking his capital to persuade the country to support him, and his fellow Republicans in particular should understand that if he and his agenda fail, so will they. |
