'GETTING BACK TO NORMAL' APPARENTLY MEANS IDEOLOGY AS USUAL

George W. Bush has focused effectively on the need for an
international alliance against terrorism. But he has not yet
understood what a wartime president has to do at home: put aside
ideological politics so he can be president of all the people. With
his evident approval, the ideologues in his administration are riding
their conservative hobbyhorses as if the country did not have a higher
purpose now. They, and the president, seem oblivious to the way those
actions threaten national unity.

A striking example is the decision by Attorney General John Ashcroft
to try to overrule the voters of Oregon and undo that state's
assisted-suicide law. He said he would move to revoke the drug
prescription license of any Oregon doctor who used drugs to help
someone who wanted to die.

Ashcroft is a fervent opponent of abortion and, like many social and
religious conservatives, sees any state sanction of suicide in the
same light. His decision last week was praised by the National Right
to Life Committee.

In terms of states' rights, which conservatives say they support, the
Ashcroft decision was rank hypocrisy. He asserted federal power in an
area that has always been pre-eminently a matter for state law, the
regulation of medical practice. Oregonians approved the
assisted-suicide law narrowly in a referendum in 1994 and reaffirmed
it in 1996 by a 60-to-40 margin. Even some who had opposed the law
reacted bitterly to Ashcroft's intrusion on Oregon territory.

In another strange example of his priorities, Ashcroft last month sent
federal agents to raid a Los Angeles center that supplied marijuana to
desperately ill people under a state law allowing medical use. Does a
wartime Justice Department really have nothing better to do than
deprive cancer and AIDS patients of relief from their pain?

Two weeks ago the British government decided to stop arresting
marijuana users, adopting the policy now followed by most European
governments. The U.S. law against users has not changed, but Ashcroft
has discretion to use Justice Department resources where they are most
urgently needed -- especially in a war situation.

The attorney general has heavy responsibilities on the domestic side
of the fight against terrorism. He is in charge of the hunt for
supporters of the Sept. 11 terrorists, and for the spreaders of
anthrax. Pursuing his ideological desires can only divide the public
and weaken respect for the administration's antiterrorist effort.

Ashcroft is the most egregious example of an official unable or
unwilling to curb his ideological zealotry at this time. But he is not
the only one.

The environment is another area where the Bush administration is
pursuing highly controversial policies despite the country's
preoccupation with the terrorist threat. Secretary of the Interior
Gale Norton and Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman are taking
advantage of that preoccupation to push through ripper measures while
no one is paying attention.

The device being used is an ingenious one: caving in to lawsuits by
interests that object to restraints on environmental damage. One such
suit asks the courts to block a Clinton administration regulation that
would stop further road-building in 60 million pristine acres of the
national forests. The Bush administration has simply put up no defense
of the regulation in court.

The administration is also trying to scuttle a Clinton regulation that
would gradually end the use of snowmobiles in Yellowstone National
Park, a rule that the public overwhelmingly approves. When snowmobile
manufacturers sued, the Bush people agreed to "reconsider" the rule.

Finally, there is the reeking scandal of the so-called economic
stimulus bill passed by the House. It would give some of the largest
corporations refunds for taxes paid over many years in the past: $671
million to General Electric, according to Citizens for Tax Justice,
and $1.4 billion to IBM. Making the rich richer will do little to
stimulate the economy, and less to stimulate our patriotism.

During World War II, President Franklin Roosevelt publicly put aside
his domestic objectives for the sake of the war. Dr. New Deal, he
said, had to give way to Dr. Win-the-War. It is time for President
Bush to curb his zealots and focus us all on the struggle against terrorism.