Editorials
Wednesday, March 28, 2001

Democrats should work
with Bush on tax cuts

The issue: The president and
Democrats agree on a retroactive
tax cut but differ on the size of a
long-range reduction and
who gets what.

The president and Democratic Senate leaders are both right in the need for a tax cut that would be retroactive to sometime earlier this year. That would soon put money into the pockets of taxpayers and help to revive a faltering economy. Then the president and the Democrats should find a workable compromise to consider Bush's long-range $1.6 trillion tax reduction.

Hawaii's two senators, Daniel Inouye and Daniel Akaka, seemed hesitant when asked where they stood on the retroactive tax proposal, as did Governor Cayetano. It would be well for the state and the nation if all three shifted gears and got behind what appears to be an emerging compromise for a retroactive tax cut.

The president said yesterday that he would accept a reduction of the tax rate in the lowest bracket of income, from the present 15 percent down to 10 percent. Estimates of how much that would give each taxpayer almost immediately varied from $300 to $600. But Bush insisted that the cut be tied to his long-range plan, which would favor cuts for higher income people.

Senator Tom Daschle, the Democratic leader, contended that the provision for a retroactive tax cut should be split from the larger plan and voted on separately. That may be a ploy to delay consideration of the president plan that many Democrats oppose in its present form.

A workable compromise: The president should accept the Democratic proposal to split the two issues and the Democratic leaders should guarantee the president that they will not delay consideration of his long-range plan. Hawaii's senators should support a compromise along these lines.

Senator Inouye said in a statement that he had not co-sponsored any tax cut proposal and would be "monitoring" debates in the Senate. That should help to determine "whether the tax relief they offer will bring a meaningful benefit to middle- and lower-income families and individuals." Senator Akaka's spokesman said the senator supported Senator Daschle's proposal "but it would depend on what package it's part of."

A spokeswoman for Governor Cayetano said he supported a tax cut, which is consistent with his position for continuing tax cuts already enacted here at home but which some legislators seek to repeal. The governor, however, was not keen about the retroactive provision and worried about whether the benefits of a tax cut would "filter down" to lower-income people.

The governor might want to reconsider and come out four square for the retroactive cut and to urge Senators Inouye and Akaka to do the same.

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Baker is smart choice
as ambassador to Japan

The issue: President Bush has
nominated former Sen. Howard Baker,
a moderate Republican, to be
ambassador to Japan.

The president's choice of retired Sen. Howard Baker to be the next American ambassador in Tokyo should be applauded as an excellent choice. In addition, American voters and taxpayers will get two for one as Baker's wife is the widely respected Nancy Kassebaum, formerly a Republican senator from Kansas.

The most important attribute that any ambassador brings to his or her post is standing in Washington, not a knowledge of the politics or language or culture of the nation to which he or she is accredited, as important as those are. As the one-time floor leader of the Republicans in the Senate and chief of staff in the White House, Baker's telephone calls to the secretary of state or the White House's national security adviser will be certain to be answered.

Moreover, the Japanese put much stock in so-called "big names," and Ambassador Baker, once confirmed by the Senate, will follow in the footsteps of the redoubtable Sen. Mike Mansfield, once the Democratic floor leader who served both Democratic and Republican presidents, and the able Thomas Foley, one-time speaker of the House and the current ambassador.

For no state in the union are relations between the United States and Japan more vital than to Hawaii, given the heavy dependence of our economy on tourism from Japan. The largest contingent of U.S. forces deployed in Asia is the 47,000 stationed in Japan, mostly on the island of Okinawa. The cultural ties between Japan and Hawaii are well-known.

In most cases, the American ambassador to Japan stops in Hawaii to confer with the commander-in-chief of U.S. forces in the Pacific not only on security but on diplomacy as the role of those admirals has evolved over the years. They are as much military diplomats as warfighters and must work in tandem with American ambassadors in Asia. Officers at the Pacific Command expect Ambassador Baker to visit here on his way to Tokyo.

Similarly, Governor Cayetano is expected to invite the new ambassador, once he has been confirmed, to visit Hawaii so that he can brief Baker on Hawaii's concerns in U.S.-Japan relations.

In addition to Senator Baker, America will be well-represented in Japan by Senator Kassebaum, who was the first woman elected to the Senate in her own right, not as a widow taking her husband's place. She is also no stranger to diplomacy, having served on the Foreign Relations Committee for many years, and earning a reputation as a quiet builder of consensus. More applause for her.

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Published by Oahu Publications Inc., a subsidiary of Black Press.

Don Kendall, President

John Flanagan, publisher and editor in chief 529-4748; jflanagan@starbulletin.com
Frank Bridgewater, managing editor 529-4747; fbridgewater@starbulletin.com
Michael Rovner, assistant managing editor 529-4751; mrovner@starbulletin.com
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