Editorial: Moderation needed

Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2004 | 8:56 a.m.

The changes in the makeup of the Bush administration accelerated Monday, as Secretary of State Colin Powell, Education Secretary Rod Paige, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham and Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman announced their resignations. The four joined Attorney General John Ashcroft and Commerce Secretary Don Evans, who resigned last week. President Bush moved quickly to nominate the White House counsel, Alberto Gonzales, to succeed Ashcroft and Bush isn't wasting much time filling the other openings as he gets ready for his second term. Indeed, Bush is announcing today that national security adviser Condoleezza Rice will replace Powell.

As Bush fills the vacancies, we'd like to see some moderates appointed to the Cabinet. But we also understand the political reality that Bush isn't likely -- no matter who comprises his Cabinet -- to reverse course on his major domestic policies now and upset the Republican conservative base that helped him get re-elected. And don't forget this is the same White House that believes that receiving 51 percent of the vote is a "mandate" for carrying out the president's agenda.

It's unclear what direction Rice would take as secretary of state, one of the president's most important appointments. We hope that, in the second term, Bush and his foreign policy team work to build alliances instead of going it alone in the world. In fairness to Powell, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff actually is an internationalist but his influence with the president has been undercut by the neoconservatives in the White House and the Defense Department, the hawks who brought us the Iraq war and who have been reluctant to get involved in the Middle East peace process.

The president ultimately is the one responsible for the policies carried out in his administration. The first four years of the Bush administration emphasized a right-wing agenda, a political recipe that hardened divisions rather than produced compromise. We hope that, this time around, moderation will hold greater sway in the White House.