Ethical norms set for new team

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, JAN. 21. The first day ended as impressively as it began for the new President of the United States, Mr. George W. Bush. From a private prayer service at St. John's Episcopal Church near Lafayette Park, Mr. Bush and Ms Laura Bush made their way through a number of glittering inaugural balls.

``I am looking forward to getting to work. There's a lot to be done, but before we start to work, there's some dancing to be done'', remarked Mr. Bush at the Texas-Wyoming ball. But the Republican President did get some work done on his first day.

In one of his first acts as the Chief Executive, Mr. Bush formally presented to the Senate his list of nominees for Cabinet posts; and the Senate quickly responded by confirming by voice vote seven Cabinet members, including the Secretary of State, Gen. Colin Powell, the Defence Secretary, Mr. Donald Rumsfeld and the Secretary of Treasury, Mr. Paul O'Neill.

The remaining members of the administration are expected to be confirmed by the Senate by the end of next week, but some of the nominees are not going to be approved all that easily. Several Democrats have said that they would oppose the appointments of Mr. John Ashcroft for the post of Attorney General and Ms Gale Norton as Interior Secretary. Mr. Ashcroft went through a bruising hearings process at the Senate last week; and Democrats have told Mr. Bush that if he was really talking about healing the wounds then he should have come up with some other name for the nation's top law enforcement officer.

Clinton's orders halted

Mr. Bush, on Saturday, also signed an executive order establishing ethical standards for his new administration and also set in motion a process to halt the flurry of executive orders and rules, including pardons, that came about in the last days of the Clinton presidency. Mr. Bush, for instance, is focussed on the last minute instructions given on Medicare guidelines and environmental protections.

The review by the new President of the last actions of his predecessor is nothing new. It has become almost a routine event. In the realm of non-administrative and non-political orders, the Bush administration will also be reviewing in detail some of the pardons issued by Mr. Bill Clinton.

For example, at the eleventh hour, Mr. Clinton pardoned 140 Americans including former Whitewater associate, Ms Susan McDougal, the former Director of the Central Intelligence, Mr. John Deutsch who has been accused of mishandling national secrets and Ms Patty Hearst. Mr. Clinton also pardoned his half brother, Mr. Roger Smith, who spent time in jail in the 1980's on drug charges.

If in his inaugural address, Mr. Bush pledged to work for ``a single nation of justice and opportunity'', he picked up the theme of bipartisanship during his luncheon address to law makers. ``People say, well gosh, the election was so close, nothing will happen except for finger pointing and name calling and bitterness. I am here to tell the country that things will get done, that we're going to rise above expectations, that both Republicans and Democrats will come together to do what's right for America''.

Mr. Bush's emphasis on working together and unity as opposed to partisan divisiveness has to be seen in the context of the political environment in Washington D.C. He has come to office after the closest race in the last 125 years; he won 30 States, but lost the popular vote by more than 500,000 votes and won the Electoral College by 271-267 votes, or one more than the majority required.

On Capitol Hill, for the first time since 1881, the Senate is evenly split between the Republicans and the Democrats with the Vice-President, Mr. Richard Cheney's tie-breaking vote giving the Grand Old Party the ``majority'' status. In the House of Representatives, the Republicans have a slim five-seat advantage. While the GOP is currently basking in the limelight of having the White House and both Chambers on Capitol Hill, the Democrats are gearing up for the off-year elections of 2002.

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