By the Way, Mr. President . . .

In recent times, new Presidents have launched their terms by taking on the tough domestic issues first. There usually are some successes and then the chief executive lapses into a war of attrition with Congress. By his second term, the battered President is savvy enough to turn to the world stage and deal with grand foreign policy issues over which he has more control. He scores some notable triumph and then retires as a statesman with visions of a Nobel Peace Prize.

George Bush is doing it all backwards. On Monday, the President will discover the cost of a heady week abroad when he sees all the domestic stuff that spilled onto his desk while he was gone.

The President returned to American soil Friday from a European tour that he modestly characterized as triumphant. He had forged a NATO agreement on short-range nuclear missiles and issued a dramatic new proposal for the reduction of conventional arms in Europe. “We met the challenge,” Bush declared on reaching Kennebunkport, Me., where he was spending the weekend. He called the NATO meeting a triumph for the alliance, a triumph of ideas and a triumph of hope for moving the world beyond the Cold War.

The President’s achievements abroad should not go unappreciated, and he is entitled to bask in the glow of all this foreign attention for a while. But one hopes the he was getting a nice rest over the weekend, because Monday is another day of another work week in Washington and there is a heaping plate of domestic leftovers awaiting his close attention.

Washington, after all, has a limited attention span for events happening outside the Beltway and was considerably occupied with its own affairs this past week. While Bush was not inclined to offer advice to congressional Republicans and Democrats for ending their ethics war, he can extend a new hand to new leaders in Congress, and perhaps offer his assistance on developing ethics codes and getting Congress a pay raise in exchange for giving up speaking honorariums.

He’ll need to shore up his savings and loan bailout plan and get to work on passage of his proposed revision of the Clean Air Act. There are a few other odds and ends hanging around like the budget and taxes, housing, the homeless, education, etc.

Oh, hey, welcome back, Mr. President. Have a good trip? Got to see Buckingham Palace, I hear. Great! Now, listen, we’ve got a full day lined up for you. It’s been a crisis a minute around here. You wouldn’t believe it. First, you’ve got to. . . .