Like Father, Like Son, Bush Faces Political Crisis

The sluggish economy drove the US President George W. Bush into the same political crisis as his father, reported New York Times on 9th.

During a fierce budget battle with Congress, the former President George Bush reneged on one of his main campaign promise, read-my-lips pledge, not to raise taxes in 1990. This proved disastrous politically and contributed to his failure to win the re-election.

With another bitter fight over the budget in the offing, President Bush is faced with many of the same circumstances that confronted his father, including an economy turned sour and a recalcitrant Congress,analyzed the NY Times.

Due to the economic slowdown, and the optimistic forecasts about the revenues and spending, the first President Bush was placed in the desperate situation that he had to accept one of three unpleasant options, across-the-board spending reductions in government programs of more than 30 percent, much deeper spending cuts in specific, popular government programs like Social Security and Medicare, or a tax increase.

After he opted for a tax increase on then June, the elder Bush persuaded the peoples that continuing ``economic expansion and employment in this country were more important than a campaign promise and that he`s got to do what he thought was right.``

However, enraged by the president`s decision, the Republicans refused to pass a bill of budget including the tax increase plan in the Congress, and did not support him enthusiastically in his 1992 race for re-election. As a result, the former President Bush had to go through much hardship from the preliminary election, and finally was miserably defeated by the former Democrat President Bill Clinton.

The NY Times forecasted that because of the recent economic situation, the current President Bush have to make an unattractive choice such as breaching the Social Security line, withdrawing his plan for more military spending, and repealing part of his tax cut.

``Repealing the tax cut seems to be out of the question, and restraining military spending would mean breaking another promise and alienating an important element of his political support.`` pointed out the NY Times. ``A decision to cut popular programs could hurt him even more politically than using Social Security money to pay for them.``

And the NY Times reported, ``Many economists and other budget specialists say they believe the president and Congress will find it impossible to keep spending low enough to avoid tapping into the Social Security trust fund.``

Han Ki-Heung eligius@donga.com