Where I Stand — Brian Greenspun: How Bush can salvage his legacy by taking action in the Middle East

Sunday, Oct. 16, 2005 | 10:20 a.m.

Do you ever wonder why our presidents' hair turns white?

Actually, it is only our recent presidents. The young ones. They come into office with brown or almost black hair and within a year or two it is either all white or well on its way. I am thinking about former President William Jefferson Clinton and current President George W. Bush.

The time has long passed in this country when any American should really believe that the man or woman who we elect to lead us from the White House can actually do so on a 24-hour basis, knowing all that is going on and being able to exercise control over large and small events. Those who try to know all things and do all things quickly pay the price -- either with whitening hair or more serious side effects such as stress-related health problems.

That is why I have never begrudged a president his vacation time. It is essential for the same reasons that enlightened companies insist that their own employees get away from the office. There is room, of course, for abuse of that theory. In Clinton's case I don't think he took enough time off -- it isn't in his genetic makeup not to work 24 hours a day. In our current president's case, my only beef is his timing. He always seems to be chopping wood when serious things are happening to other people.

I have been thinking about the stress factor a lot lately. Both in my own life as a cause of middle-aged weight gain (I am looking for any excuse other than the real reason, which is an abundant enjoyment of good food) and as it relates to President Bush and the column I am about to write. I just don't want to be the person to add to another man's stress. And yet ...

There is a lot going on in Bush's life. All of it affects us: his well-known nonreaction to Hurricane Katrina, while the whole world watched as nothing happened; or his seeming inability to have the facts match up with his words as they relate to the Iraq war; or the very real and urgent need to fix what we have broken in Iraq so that the terrorists and others hoping for our failure are not given a public relations gift to match the ages; or his obvious marketing overkill in the Gulf Coast to let each of us know that he really is in charge while other matters such as nukes in Iran and terrorists in Syria seem to get second billing; not to mention the most incredible economic deficits this country has ever seen with no end in sight and the president's ideological insistence that the answer is to cut more taxes, thus heaping more debt on our children and gra ndchildren (a most unchristian approach to good governance); or any number of other major issues that require intelligentl! y designed solutions and not knee-jerk reactions.

Any one of these major challenges would cause a normal person's hair to turn snow white if, indeed, he had any hair left to lose color at all. So put them all on the "to do" list and it is no wonder that our president is looking a bit ragged these days. This is a tough job.

So here comes one more challenge that needs his attention. It is an old one, to be sure, and attempts to solve it have broken many a leader's will to carry on or desire to get involved in the first place. It is called the Middle East and the time for action is right now.

I understand why Bush turned his attention everywhere but the Middle East when he came into office. Clinton tried with all his might and all of his brain power to forge a peace agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians. In the end it didn't happen because former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat just couldn't or wouldn't make it happen. The Bush White House was not going to risk its modest political capital on that rabbit hole. We all know what happened. More deaths and destruction in Israel and the Palestinian territories than ever before because no one would pay attention.

As is often the case, there is opportunity again. This time the president needs to answer the call. I know it is not a good time for him, with everything else on his plate going south, but chances for real movement toward peace in that part of the world don't come available all the time. So now is the time we must act.

I say "we" because it has become abundantly clear over decades that peace will never be achieved without the guidance, leadership, prodding and pushing of the United States. No other country or institution seems capable of entering the fray or desirous of taking the lead. Perhaps the United Nations can do it but only with the leadership of the United States pushing that world peace organization in the right direction.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's unilateral withdrawal from Gaza has opened the door of opportunity. Sharon grasped the chance to step up and do something out of the ordinary because he understood what few others did at the time.

Both the Palestinians and the Israelis are exhausted. The past five years of death, destruction and ongoing mayhem have left the vast majority of people on both sides wanting war no more. They want peace. Parents on both sides want their children to go to school, grow up and be happy, productive citizens. There is no place in that dream for continued bloodshed.

The issues that seemed to separate the two sides a few years ago have mostly disappeared. Most of the West Bank has been "unsettled" by Israelis as has the entire Gaza Strip. Any right of return which was a big, albeit paper-like thorn on which the Palestinians used to always insist, has pretty much gone by the boards. With the West Bank and Gaza as an acknowledged homeland, there is no real reason to push for something the Palestinians aren't going to get.

The only real issue is Jerusalem, and it seems that both sides are willing to push that decision way off into the future if it means the chance for a peaceful solution today. That leaves the only other reason peace did not happen -- a willing Palestinian leader -- as the main challenge.

Most observers believe that Abu Mazzan, the Palestinian president, can and will make peace but he is not yet able to do it because he does not have the institutions of government necessary to make peace stick. For that it will take a United Nations effort supported by Europe, Asia and the other Arab countries.

And the only way that will happen is if the United States takes an out-front and very active role -- not just a few emissaries from our country to the Middle East, but the full weight and authority of the world's only superpower.

The opportunity is ripe. The people are tired of fighting and want an alternative. The Palestinians can do it if they have the institutional support needed. And the Israelis will be there happily because they know there is much more to life than dying. The alternative is an Israel that will fence itself off from what could only then be a failed Palestinian state, not a good answer for anyone.

So, in the middle of all that has gone wrong and continues to go wrong, the president has an opportunity to do what no world leader has ever done -- bring peace to the Middle East. It won't be easy, but if he does this thing right, he will win his legacy and the world will rejoice.

And if he fails to step up at this most important moment in time, his hair will continue to turn white. And the world will continue to suffer the inaction.

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