Posted on: Tuesday, March 5, 2002

EDITORIAL
White House must let Congress in on plans

Has that great burst of patriotism and national unity we saw after Sept. 11 come and gone?

One might think so, given the unseemly sniping between Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott and Majority Leader Tom Daschle over comments the senior Democrat has made.

Daschle asked, rather mildly we'd argue, for the Bush administration to explain and define its goals as the war expands. That's hardly an outrageous request from a leading member of the U.S. Senate. But Lott apparently thinks it is, going so far as to suggest Daschle was being unpatriotic or even disloyal.

In fact, Daschle was asking the kind of questions that should be part of the larger public debate as this war moves forward. In the same vein, Daschle and other senior Democrats are right to criticize Bush for setting up a secret "shadow" government without bothering to consult with Congress.

The shadow government, operating in hidden bunkers, is an appropriate contingency effort in this era of unknown terrorist threats. But it is unacceptable that plans went ahead without any consultation with senior members of Congress.

Bush has done an admirable and courageous job of leading the nation in a war of unknowable proportions. But he and his administration must recognize that even wartime leadership cannot be unilateral; it requires consultation and coordination with those who have been elected to represent the American people.