When George W. Bush announced his Cabinet, he was lauded by many for assembling a foreign policy powerhouse that would likely be used to compensate for his inability to care much about life outside of the United States.
While some loathe the hired guns, others are grateful that a juggernaut of seasoned international affairs veterans is advising the president.
But up until the anthrax scare that has rattled the country, few have noticed the lack of leadership regarding domestic issues coming from Bush and other executive branch representatives.
Attorney General John Ashcroft is the type of person people might trust when seeking religious advice, but he has been anything but reassuring when it comes to figuring out how to contain anthrax.
Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson is no better, offering information that conflicts with reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Then you have White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer explaining that anthrax found in the mail isn't really bioterrorism unless it can be proven that the substance was sent by foreign entities or their cells in the United States.
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Ashcroft of course followed Fleischer's statement by saying that any infectious disease sent through the mail constitutes bioterorrism.
It's just so reassuring that we're all the same page.
As if the executive branch hasn't done enough, the House of Representatives stepped in and gave us all cause for panic by shutting down at the first sign of anthrax in the Capitol. Of course, this was after a letter laced with anthrax was sent to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle's office, but that's close enough to the House of Representatives, isn't it?
The scare is the type of issue that many would like to disregard as an overblown media frenzy - I certainly would feel much better if I could - but information is trickling out daily alerting us that more and more people are testing positive for the disease.
While we're launching bombs on another country and foolishly pretending that sometime in the near future American resolve can stamp out terrorism everywhere it lurks, we might want to take a look at what's going on in our own backyard.
Opening mail just shouldn't be a life or death experience.
Iliana Lim¢n
Editor in chief
