Whether the issue is a high-stakes spectrum fight key to the New Economy, a free-falling stock market key to the Old Economy or a U.S.-Sino spat key to the global economy, the question for all America is the same: Who’s running the country? Is it George W. Bush? Or is it Dick Cheney?
For sure, the president’s mouth is moving. But are the words his own or those of the vice president? Perhaps what the nation is being treated to is a grand performance of political ventriloquism.
Indeed, as the U.S.-China war of words escalated last week, presidential handlers wisely had Bush speak to the controversy alone-free of inner-circle policy advisers like Cheney, Secretary of State Colin Powell and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. The image would be of a president capable and in control.
The new White House, whether it knows it or not, is struggling mightily to balance support for American business with heart-felt backing for national security. At the intersection of economic and national security policies-works in progress-are digital issues critical to the future of the wireless industry.
But who is calling the shots?
Up to now, Bush has had an easy time of it. For all that ails the economy, the president has a pat answer: tax cuts. For students and schools at risk: education reform. But these are policy pronouncements, carefully honed over many months, that have been carried over from the campaign to the Oval Office.
What about other thorny issues for which no scripted answers exist? What happens when all the president’s men are not on the same page? Whose policy voice will President Bush mouth at that point?
Take the spectrum tug-of-war between the mobile-phone industry and the Pentagon. Commerce Secretary Don Evans has gone to bat for mobile-phone firms. But the president may be forced decide for himself what to do if Defense Secretary Rumsfeld concludes future military readiness requires that DoD keep the 1700 MHz band sought by mobile carriers for third-generation wireless services.
The wireless industry is anxious to gain unfettered entry into China and other emerging markets with large populations and small telecom infrastructure. In the aftermath of last week’s flare-up, how will China treat Motorola Inc., Lucent Technologies Inc., Qualcomm Inc. and other wireless firms trying to do business in the land of 1.3 billion people.? Couldn’t be any worse than Wall Street hospitality.
Other issues, like high-tech exports and encryption, also find themselves sitting uneasily between pro-business and national security factions in the Bush administration. For now, the defense hawks are winning. Digital America, meanwhile, is losing ground swiftly. Big time.
