REVIEW & OUTLOOK
Rallying the Country
President Bush rises to the occasion.
A Democratic friend of ours who served in Bill Clinton's government called the other day to say something surprising: The country was lucky to have George W. Bush instead of his own former boss as President at this moment. With his address to a joint session of Congress last night, there's little doubt that Mr. Bush is growing into his role as a wartime leader.
Mr. Bush was speaking to the nation at a time when American troops and warplanes are moving into position in the Middle East. He promised Americans to use "every resource at our command" to defeat terrorism. And he bluntly told governments world-wide: "Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists."
It's a cliché by now to say that Mr. Bush is an unrhetorical President, not as fluent with words as FDR or Ronald Reagan. Who could disagree? But yet, so what? Mr. Bush's main task is rallying America, and in that job his plain style has advantages. This Everyman ability was on display when he grabbed the bullhorn at ground zero in New York to rally workers looking for survivors. And it was on display last night, when he declared: "We will direct every resource at our command . . . to the disruption and defeat of the global terror network." What could be plainer than that?
Mr. Bush's straightforward rhetoric also projects a moral clarity that is useful at a time of crisis. The country is looking for direction, and Mr. Bush is able to convey the simple gravity of the moral and political task ahead. He did so last night when he said, "Freedom and fear are at war."
This relates to Mr. Bush's more fundamental leadership advantage, which is that he seems decisive. Mr. Clinton could understand eight sides of a five-sided issue, and then explain it all off the cuff. But when you're asking Americans to risk their lives and treasure, the talent for appreciating ambiguity is no virtue. Mr. Bush's management style is to listen to smart people make their strongest arguments, make a decision and then not second-guess himself. His entire focus then moves on to implementing his decision, such as his announcement last night that he will establish a new Cabinet-level office of homeland security to be led by Gov. Tom Ridge.
In this decision-making process, Mr. Bush benefits from a high-quality national security team, not just at the Cabinet level but going down into the ranks. This is a seasoned group that has dealt with crisis and even war before. Mr. Bush's biggest difficulty will be deciding between arguments made by equally forceful advocates.
Secretary of State Colin Powell, for example, is arguing internally not to strike Iraq in any anti-terror campaign, because of its difficulty and its potential to upset other Arab states. But Mr. Bush might recall that Mr. Powell also advised his father not to use ground troops to oust Saddam Hussein from Kuwait in 1991. And he was among those who advised George H.W. Bush to end the Gulf War prematurely, leaving Saddam in place to torment this new President Bush.
Our own view is that the terrorist threat won't vanish until Saddam does. Indeed, if Mr. Bush decides to leave Saddam out of his war plans, so-called moderate Arab states are likely to be even warier of joining an anti-terror coalition because they'll fear the U.S. isn't serious about a long-term campaign. Arabs themselves know that Osama bin Laden is hardly the only terror threat, and Saddam will find new fanatics to finance if he stays in power.
To their credit, Democrats decided to pass on their usual TV response to a Presidential address. Democratic leaders, notably House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, seem to understand that Americans want Mr. Bush to be able to project a united front to the world. For his part, Mr. Bush thanked Congress in his speech "for what you have already done and for what we will do together."
The President has many hard calls ahead. But on the evidence of last night and the past 10 days, he's more than up to the task.
