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Governing means making choices

Before George W. Bush was elected president of the US, governor of Texas was the only work experience listed on his political resume. Moreover, he only served one-and-a-half terms as governor, which means he had a total of about six years of political experience before entering the White House.

This political greenhorn, however, is now leader of the last remaining superpower and is playing his role well. Not only did he not describe himself or his new administration as a "small tree" -- as President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) did -- he also didn't describe the ruling Republican Party as a "new driver on the road" or ask his fellow Americans to overlook its performance.

On May 18, New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman said that three facts about the Bush administration could yet conspire to produce "a perfect political storm."

One, the Bush administration came into office with the attitude that everything the Clinton administration did was wrong and needed to be reversed.

Two, they came into office bearing Republican "theological" positions on tax cuts, the environment and missile defense, positions that had not been tested in the real world over the past eight years.

Three, they came into office controlling the Senate, the House, the White House and the Supreme Court, creating a government with no brakes (even though the defection of James Jeffords has now changed the situation in the Senate).

Because there are no brakes, the Bush administration, which has been in office for only a little more than 100 days, geared up and marched ahead at full speed from the very beginning. To deal with the economic downturn, a large tax cut has already been proposed. To deal with the growing energy crisis, the previous administration's pro-conservation energy policy has been largely overturned. On the defense side, the administration would rather spend US$100 billion building a Star Wars missile shield than spend US$100 million dealing with an immediate threat by assisting Russia with the dismantling of its old nuclear weapons which could fall into the hands of terrorists.

Thus, in contrast to former president Bill Clinton, who adopted a "middle way," Bush is a national leader with a distinct political stance. His governing style is also vastly different from that of Clinton, who tried to please everybody.

In fact, Clinton was controlled by the Democratic Party's left wing when he first took office. Two years later, former speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, launched a "Republican revolution" and forced him to shift back and to adopt the "Third Way." As for Bush, he is now following the path of the extreme Republican right. Friedman described Bush's current policies as nothing but a "realism lost in theology." He also predicted that if Bush and his administration keep going in the radical direction in which they are headed, "at the speed they are traveling, they are going to hit something real hard."

Chen is about the same age as Clinton and Bush. All three were led by the "theologies" of their parties when they first took office. Clinton quickly abandoned the party's ideology by adopting a "middle way." Bush, however, has chosen to uphold the party's ideology and is rushing to the right. Not only has the so-called Third Way become a thing of the past, but the term cannot even be found in Bush's political dictionary.

But whether Chen will take Clinton or Bush as his guide, or whether he will disregard the shortcomings of the two and allow only their strengths to serve as examples to him, he should learn the following lesson from the two Americans: governing means making choices! Governance without making choices is simply empty rule.

A national leader who doesn't dare to make choices will keep running around to the point of exhaustion. This is not true leadership and such a leader will be unable to govern a state well. This was former US president Richard Nixon's advice to Clinton. After being in power for one year, perhaps A-bian should take that advice too.

Wang Chien-chuang is president of 'The Journalist' magazine. Translated by Eddy Chang
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