Exercising Muscles of the Presidency : U.S. interest required Clinton’s executive action

If the domestic politics of this country were not currently so volatile, if at almost every turn the Republican-controlled Congress wasn’t wrestling with the White House to achieve takedowns, if the Clinton Administration had moved sooner in reading Congress’ hardening opposition to an aid package, then this week’s Mexican psychodrama would not have occurred.

There’s little doubt that, in the past, Congress would have moved to help Mexico, which after Canada is our foremost trading partner and now is a close economic ally under the North American Free Trade Agreement. But even the ABCs of elemental foreign relations have become a political football, which is why President Clinton threw the Hail Mary pass Tuesday that flew over Congress’ head. Clinton bypassed congressional controversy over the Administration’s proposed $40-billion loan guarantee to Mexico by adroitly coming up with an executive package that obviated the need for congressional approval. The President’s $20-billion package, combined with nearly $30 billion from foreign and international-organization sources, is designed to do the trick.

If nothing else, Clinton’s executive decision should serve to remind Washington that America still has a President and that presidential decisions can still be made in the national interest. For the President is the only officeholder (leaving aside the coattail vice president) who is elected by the entire electorate to represent all the people. The presidency is the only office that rises above the sectarian, the provincial, the local and the limited. No one else represents all 50 states. And no one else can.

And is not the economic, not to mention political, stability of Mexico in the U.S. national interest? The hemisphere, not to mention the world, is in the well-advertised throes of a profound, technologically driven economic interdependency that renders isolationism not only foolish but impossible. Indeed, how can a neighbor’s economic viability and social stability not be a matter of U.S. national interest? After all, Mexico is a rapidly changing society with 92 million people and a 2,000-mile border in common with the United States.

So, although it’s too bad he didn’t act sooner, in the end the President did act. With the help of Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin and Secretary of State Warren Christopher, he cobbled together an executive package that may be just the boost Mexico needs to ride out the storm. Because of suspicions about the Yanquis to the north, as well as suspicions about their own government, some Mexicans may not cheer the loan guarantee. But the people of the United States should. It’s good to see the President acting as a leader. When the President does what he thinks is necessary to the national interest, that alone should command respect from Americans, even if the decision itself doesn’t always command agreement.