February 2001 World Headlines

Thursday, February 8, 2001 - Web posted at 9:34:33 AM GMT

Bush completes cabinet after 18 days in office

WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush had his cabinet complete and forging full steam ahead after his nominee for US trade representative cleared the US Senate with unanimous support.

Senators voted 98-0 on Tuesday to put Robert Zoellick in charge of negotiating US trade accords and disputes, giving their stamp of approval to Bush's last cabinet-level nominee.

"We have an obligation to the people of America to set a good tone, a good example, an example of the spirit of what's possible," said Bush, speaking of the tasks before his administration.

"I'm confident it can happen."

"Overall, it took the new president just 18 days in office to wrap up formation of his cabinet, a short time by Washington standards, particularly given the fact that the presidential transition period was significantly curtailed by the Florida election dispute.

In 1993, it took president Bill Clinton more than a month to do the same, according to NBC News."

"What they lost in time, they more than gained in experience," said Alvin Felzenberg, a political scientist at the conser VAT ive Heritage Foundation.

Many local pundits noted the presence in the Bush cabinet of such heavyweights as Vice President Richard Cheney, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, people with decades of government and business experience behind them.

"Past presidents have suffered from the learning curve," opined Felzenberg.

"I don't see much learning curve here."

"Though completed relatively promptly, Bush's process of cobbling together a cabinet was not entirely smooth.

Even before he took the oath of office on January 20, the Texan suffered a setback when his nominee for secretary of labour, Linda Chavez, was forced to withdraw her candidacy when confronted with accusations that she had harboured an illegal alien.

While Chavez decried "the politics of personal destruction" practised in Washington, Bush swiftly moved to fill the vacancy with Elaine Chao, former Peace Corps director and wife of influential Republican Senator Mitch McConnell.

- Nampa-Sapa-AFP

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