LOS ANGELES: Pity the person with a hard act to follow, particularly if it is his own. George W. Bush is such a person. For three months, he has shone as the take-charge leader of a powerful nation reeling from an unexpected blow. A quiet sense of triumph now pervades the US’s inner circles.

Here is the hard-act-to-follow part, and the irony of President Bush’s situation: In declaring a war on terrorism and the states that harbour terrorists, Bush’s policy of rooting out terrorism wherever it thrives plunks his administration smack into the middle of the world’s trouble spots. The havens of terrorists are either dysfunctional countries in need of nation-building or autocratic regimes sowing the seeds of despair that sprout radicals. Turning these retrograde states into open, self-sustaining communities will require a generosity of spirit and patience for study that Bush’s go-go team has yet to demonstrate.

The expense of promoting economic growth, public schooling and human rights in failing states will run athwart the Bush administration’s priority to cut taxes. Bringing poor countries into the global economy will require opening our doors to their goods. Yet low-wage commodity exporters seeking US buyers are sure to mobilize calls from Congress for protection against unfair competition.

Complicating these demands is the arena of power from which Bush will have to lead. While fighting the war in Afghanistan, he makes decisions as commander-in-chief. The Bush who must fashion a successful foreign policy to eradicate terrorism acts as head of the executive branch of a three-part government designed by the US constitution to operate through checks and balances.

The Bush people have emphasized that we are in this fight for the long haul. The “long haul” they have in mind may be strictly military, but their words have nurtured hopes of a sustained effort to get at the stubborn causes of poverty and radicalism. Nation-building is a messy business where trial and error consumes endless months and billions of dollars.

The bright side of the picture is that many of the US’s allies have also been singed by terrorism, either from dissidents inside their country or on their borders. Their national self-interest inclines them to cooperate with the US. —Dawn/LAT-WP News Service (c) Los Angeles Times.