Accountability starts at home, and President George W. Bush must keep that soberly in mind as he faces a concerted effort from the Russian Federation and People's Republic of China to isolate the United States in the world. The two powers' code language came out in recent Iranian statements about Israel and the US, that the US was a decaying power and Israel a dead branch. That is, the rising Eastern powers are selling themselves as the superpowers of tomorrow's choice while the US is deemed a dying empire.

President George W. Bush must start by forgetting all of the domestic political attacks and temptations to focus on hammering out a smart, reformed foreign policy that quietly reaches out behind the scenes to a balanced portfolio in the sectors of American power. And, those in the partisan mode in those sectors must pull together, and also engage the President in a cooperative nod to American long range security, legitimacy and strength, minus the imperial impulsiveness following 9/11. 9/11 was a feint designed to draw the US into a death by a thousand cuts. The US must understand it not less gravely or seriously as a challenge to our survival, but consider it in its tactical and strategic perspective.

Yes, firing Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld and Karl Rove would go a long way toward improving troop and political morale if both are replaced wisely, not with their polar opposites or proteges. For example, how was it supposed to work to put Mr. Rove under Mr. Card and expect Mr. Card to stick around? The appointment could only undermine the Chief of Staff given Rove's buddy-history with the VP, Rumsfeld and the Bushes. Rumsfeld has introspected loudly twice to slip Freudian for his own removal when he (A) wondered if we were creating more enemies than vanquishing and (B) he recently observed that the US was losing the propaganda war in the Middle East without recognizing why and to whom we were losing it on the larger context beyond the Middle East, i.e. in the sands beneath the sands.

However, even a few token firings cannot substitute for the actively learning and intelligent role required of the President himself as a leader who models learning on the job and a resilient determination to put redeeming accomplishments to work. The interests of those bred for power must find second place to the American Republic, for it appears that it has become a conflict of interest requiring an active resignation by those in the way of the American interest.

Contrary to his adversarial press-byte image, President Bush is an intelligent man who can lead by example and change his mode of doing business to become a unifier of Americans and American factions. Not only that, but rather than eternally vilifying and criticizing the man, a way for him to reach out and lead must be left open that takes into account who he is, including the role of his wife in his life. Making President Bush a caricature (it is easy to do in writing and by selective images because of the impulse to satirize that I have also followed, i.e. the "'ol Ball and Cheney") does not help him or us other than to vent. We are in this nation together and will do better by her to work together, putting partisanship aside for survival.

President Bush must recognize that it is very possibly not God's will for him to remain too loyal to friends in power, but to open his mind and heart to a more unifying approach to leading the entire United States. "Trust ye not in princes and sons of men . . " said the Psalmist. And remembering the lessons of King David, President Bush could well understand that the death of Uriah the Hittite caused by David for reasons of adultery could well show a different face in the deaths of young Americans in uniform in order to strengthen the hands of personal allies with business interests in the region in which they are dying. If to serve adultery against one's country for gain, but not for true self-defense, military operations can be cause for a deep need for repentance, even if the sin began in ignorance.

This is the President's last term, and so Mr. Bush can afford to change his mind, learn, and set the tone and tempo for his eight year marathon finish. His ability to shrug off criticism while listening to the merits in it, will go a long way. Firing Rumsfeld would shed a monkey from his back that has long been working at cross-purposes with American interests for the purpose of proving his personal neocon theories of defense reform to be correct. A love of intellectual form that disdains reality's intervention is not attuned to national security awareness.

Has it occurred to Mr. Rumsfeld that target fixation on ideas is easily picked up and adapted to by networks of militant and political adversaries? Obviously not, for that is what the RF and PRC have been doing. Not so the President, if he does not think independently from Mr. Rumseld on defense issues but uses the ethos of loyalty to the one as an excuse for eschewing his duty of loyalty to the many. That duty to the many involves intensive studying up and executive severity and sobriety. It will involve turning some against others in his Administration, recognizing that he will need some to stay (i.e. Rice, Pace) and many others to go.

Who to ask in, or back? A major shake-up is warranted, and here are ideas that make sense to me: Ridge to Homeland Security, Chertoff out; Colin Powell to Secretary of Defense, Rumsfeld way out; Ret. Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni to National Security Advisor slot; and Dick Cheney to serve as an infantryman in Iraq doing patrols. And, in a show of bi-partisanship to unity, something much needed, ask Bill Richardson to take a Vice-President's spot and John McCain becomes Chief of Staff. If Bush, Sr. can work with Bill Clinton on world security and humanitarian causes, Bush Jr. can work with Bill Richardson, a man well-versed in far Eastern affairs.

Back to the mounting problem of the Russian Federation and Communist China's efforts to isolate the United States, this course of clandestine events has been intensifying since the Clinton Administration years when US forces hit a traditional Russian ally (Serbia) and bombed a Chinese embassy. And the Monitor's Fred Weir wrote this analysis (with a pro-Russian Federation slant) as to why relations are chilling with the US. It should be read accordingly.

The economic interests of men of power will be trumped by their sense of threat by war, and intensified by fears that they are being economically outmaneuvered. China's exponentially exploding economy and Russia's immense resources presage a re-emergence of authoritarian superpowers that will likely work to supplant US economic power, diplomatic influence and challenge US military superiority to provoke a new Cold War in the next twenty years.

Without quick leadership moves now, these trends will prove the folly of neocon foreign policy that never factored in the greed and dependence relationship to Communist China's economy resident in America while the PRC has only hardened its communist credentials and has drawn near to the Russian Federation to form what both powers see as their own "new world order."

Bringing Russia into NATO, into the Group of Eight and checking the PRC's influence will require that the US formally address the Russian Federation in the sort of respectful superpower summits which took place in the Reagan years. The good will of those days was spent since, however, could be rebuilt. And, President George W. Bush has proven as good as anyone about remaining firm on principles, and those should include expectations that Russia turn back to democracy while America cuts the influence of corporate lobbyists in its own foreign policy.

The long term well-being of the world counts on what happens in the relationships between the US, Europe and the rising Eastern powers. Fortunately, the rising Eastern powers will have to face the immutable reality that centralized power in government is a short-term vanity that cannot sustain the sort of economy and infrastructures that their burgeoning and diverse populations need to see to assimilate and participate in long term pacification among their ethnic, religious and racial factions. The United States, its foreign phobias notwithstanding, should continue to lead the East by example in these areas, for the intense prejudices and prides of Russia and China toward ethnicities not historically favored, will be their significant challenge following their handling of the sort of corruption issues the US has faced in its early history (bosses, organized crime) to date. And that gets us back to the opening sentence: self-discipline with accountability at home builds force of right resolve abroad. Leadership by example is indispensable for the US to sustain its part in keeping the world in a healthy balance.