For almost seven months, the U.S. government worked with other world leaders to get Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait.

For another month and a half, Americans watched television reports and read newspaper accounts of the Persian Gulf War.

But now, the focus of attention must turn to the domestic front.

The economy is in the worst recession in a decade. Unemployment has been on the rise consistently during the Bush administration. And more than 32 million Americans live in poverty. Thirteen million of them are children.

Last week, Bush urged Congress to "move forward aggressively on the domestic front." Perhaps the people of America should be give the president a similar message.

As long as Bush's military victory glitters in the public eye, some White House officials have said they will be satisfied in doing only enough domestically to appease the Democrats.

Is this the message a country hurting from the casualities of an economic recession needs to hear?

The Democrats have rightly said Bush doesn't have a domestic agenda. Since the Bush administration took over in 1988, little time and energy has been spent on salvaging the ailing democracy. President Bush seems to think that the only way to heal our economy, health and education system is through tax breaks and tougher actions against criminals.

If he really cares about equal opportunity, the plight of the homeless, the unemployed and underemployed, then perhaps he should be working to solve those problems instead of jumping on to another crusade -- the drug war.

While the Persian Gulf crisis may have required Bush's undivided attention for those six months, it is now time to return home.

Ignoring problems such as civil rights and the economy, or addressing them only slightly will not make them go away. The issues must be dealt with in depth if any solutions are to be found.

It's up to the citizens of the United States to make sure our leaders do just that.