POLITICS

Common foe draws many together

By Susan Milligan, Globe Staff, 9/13/2001

ASHINGTON - The politics of peace and prosperity have given way to a new, grim landscape in Washington, where lawmakers must now navigate the politics of near-war and the prospect of recession.

How both crises are handled could determine who holds control of Congress after the 2002 election, or who sits in the White House after 2004. President Bush faces an early and monumental test of his leadership, while Congress struggles to set aside partisan bickering over budget issues to focus on the terrorist threat.

''Everything has changed,'' said Senator John F. Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts. ''Politics is off the table.''

Democrats who had been attacking Bush for his budget and tax package - a plan they said has virtually depleted the budget surplus and threatened the integrity of the Social Security trust fund surplus - were almost deferential to the president yesterday, urging national unity and support for the country's leader.

Last night, the Bush administration prepared to ask Congress for $20 billion in emergency funds to help rebuild from Tuesday's terrorist assaults and prevent future attacks.

Members of Congress now have a common enemy: terrorism. And the fervor with which lawmakers in both parties called for retribution against those responsible for that day's attacks obliterated the political sniping of previous months.

In unusually personal comments, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Democrat of New York, called for Americans to stand behind the man who replaced her husband at the White House.

''I have expressed my strong support for the president, not only as the senator from New York, but as someone who for eight years had some sense of the burden and responsibility that falls on the shoulders of the person we make our president,'' Clinton said on the Senate floor.

''It is an awesome, and sometimes awful, responsibility for the person who does it,'' Clinton said, drawing an unusual smattering of applause from fellow senators.

The fight over the budget and Social Security - a dispute that had been expected to consume Congress long past the Sept. 30 deadline for a fiscal 2002 budget - has disappeared, at least for the time being.

Democrats who warned against using a penny of the Social Security surplus appeared more than willing yesterday to spend some of it on the emergency package.

Some noted that Bush had pledged to tap into the retirement fund surplus only in case of war or recession. Until Tuesday, most had believed it would be the second debacle - not the first - that would make it happen.

''This is war. Wherever it [the money] comes from, it comes,'' said Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California.

Kerry predicted a speedy negotiation and passage of a federal budget.

Former President Bill Clinton enjoyed eight years of relative peace and unprecedented prosperity. But Bush has experienced an economy that has grown gloomier, and now faces the added problem of finding and punishing terrorists.

''It can be a defining moment'' for Bush, said Kenneth Adelman, former head of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency under the Reagan administration.

Bush's father, former President George Herbert Walker Bush, reveled in sky-high approval ratings after the Gulf War in 1991. But his popularity plummeted along with the economy, and he lost to Clinton.

''It changes the entire dynamic of [American] politics,'' said Marshall Wittmann of the conservative Hudson Institute. ''The question is whether the political class in this country is going to take seriously the notion that we are at war.

''If we are at war, it suspends normal partisan politics and puts national security first and foremost in the eyes of Congress,'' Wittmann said. ''The upcoming budget showdown has turned into an international showdown with terrorists.''

Congress has busied itself with addressing the terrorist attack. One by one, somber senators rose yesterday to vote for a resolution condemning the attacks and urging action against both the perpetrators and those who aided them. The House soon followed.

Senator Charles Schumer, Democrat of New York, pleaded for financial help from his colleagues, which he said his state was certain to receive, once the astronomical bill is tallied. Senate Assistant Majority Leader Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, called for the appointment of a Cabinet-level anti-terrorism czar. Kerry warned that another attack - perhaps a worse one - might come.

''The son, like the father, has to deal with a war that will likely take all his energy for the time being,'' Wittman said, referring to Bush. ''This could be a long, protracted war that could reshape American politics.''

This story ran on page A18 of the Boston Globe on 9/13/2001.
© Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.