Anyone who thought the freedom of expression was safe from the onslaught of political agendas has been proven wrong.

John E. Frohnmayer, who resigned more than a week ago as chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, is a casualty of election-year politics.

Frohnmayer will not leave office until May, and the danger exists that his replacement will not be named until after the November election. A new chairperson who will not be swayed by politics should be appointed immediately.

In addition, the NEA needs someone willing to defend art considered offensive. The next NEA chairperson must also be more effective at defending the institution from conservative attacks.

President Bush, in not defending Frohnmayer, folded to his right-wing challenger Patrick Buchanan, who is making federal support for offensive artworks a campaign issue.

Following criticism for using tax money to support works considered obscene or sacrilegious, Bush wants to get the NEA out of the press. It seems the president wants good, clean non-political art, a charge often levelled against Frohnmayer as well.

During his term, Frohnmayer shied away from funding daring art, often reversing his own grant decisions.

But conservatives like Buchanan and Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., still patrol creativity's outer limits and threaten the NEA's future.

Politicians will not always be happy -- that is not the NEA's job. The president should protect a diverse and sometimes bothersome creative world. There must be latitude for expression within the program.

The endowment is a vital investment in the cultural health of America. It contributes directly to the education of people and to the economic health of communities.

Bush can show his support for free artistic expression by ignoring conservative criticism and appointing an open-minded leader as the new NEA chairperson.