The Hindu Business Line : Making good the promise of change

The Democratic Party candidate for US presidency, Senator Barack Obama, was the first in the field forcefully canvassing for change in the functioning of the Government in Washington. This paid him ample dividends. Though he was a relatively unknown figure compared to Senator Hillary Clinton, who started off with all the advantages of an erstwhile First Lady with nationwide recognition for her experience, Senator Obama, riding on the crest of the wave of enthusiasm he generated by his promise of change, wrested the nomination from her. The appeal of this particular slogan has proved to be so popular and powerful that the Republican Party nominee, Senator John McCain, too has appropriated it to bolster up his campaign as well.

Both candidates have not so far come out with any specific directions along which they will be bringing about the change they have in mind. They had a great opportunity to incorporate their new ideas in their speeches accepting their nomination, but, other than mentioning the word a few times, they filled their speeches with conventional and familiar rhetoric.

Pointers to action

At least during the remaining months of campaigning, people would expect to be told their mode of attacking the chronic malaise afflicting Washington. Here are a few pointers to action to pull the Washington political establishment out of the rut into which it has fallen:

The Vice-President in the American system is often viewed as a fifth wheel in the coach. He should be utilised to keep Congressional relations on an even keel, help manage intra and inter-departmental conflicts and iron out differences in international relations. The tasks assigned to him should be set out in a transparent charter.

The choice of aides by the President is the first indication people get about his seriousness of purpose and willingness to break from the past. The new President should drop the practice of appointing cronies, campaign managers, fundraisers or untested tyros, and go for persons of high intellectual capabilities with knowledge and experience of public affairs, in the academia, think tanks or reputed business houses.

The aides should be mainly used for trouble shooting and planning for future contingencies, and not for second guessing Cabinet members who should have direct access to the President with their proposals and advice for obtaining his orders.

It will be desirable for the President to hold regular brainstorming with Cabinet members, aides in his personal office, eminent public figures and foreign ambassadors on matters of special and emerging importance in order to be abreast of likely developments. President Bill Clinton had one such global conference on environment in the White House which came up with a number of concrete suggestions.

It will likewise be useful for the President to reach out to the people at large and pick their brains by holding town hall type meetings at which there will be a free and frank exchange of views combined with question-and-answer sessions. These will serve somewhat like grand juries of citizens to keep the Administration on its toes.

Too many federal government offices and agencies have entrenched themselves in Washington. The first move of the new President should be to appoint a high-level committee to go into the question of dispersing as many of them as possible outside Washington.

On the policy plane, the President should announce that his Administration would restrict access to the executive branch to lobbies and special interests, have no truck with dictators, military or otherwise, give up recourse to regime change, sanctions or military intervention to impose its judgment on other countries, and refrain from including in domestic laws provisions constituting interference in the internal affairs of other nations.

B. S. RAGHAVAN