President Bush has a spotty philosophy on government power: he thinks the Feds should wiretap your phones and inspect your airline luggage, but not control your Social Security benefits. Nevertheless, my bet is that this week, he's damn happy the Coast Guard controls port security.

In a throwback to the panic over the high-profile Japanese purchasing of American assets in the 1980s (Remember? They were going to buy Yosemite!), Congressional Republicans and Democrats are fuming over the Administration's go-ahead to the acquisition of UK-based P&O Steam Navigation Co., which operates the commercial ports of six US cities, by Dubai Ports World, a state-owned enterprise of the United Arab Emirates. Nary a politician raised a peep at the fact that a British firm hitherto ran key shipping operations in our country (Was this restitution for all the tea we destroyed two centuries ago?), but now that the UAE has entered stage right, everything has changed. Senator Bill Frist insists that it's not about protectionism or xenophobia, but rather security integrity. Hillary Clinton is about to introduce a bill that would halt the P&O deal, commenting that "Our port security is too important to place in the hands of foreign governments." Evidently, former colonial masters don't count.

Bush has, to his credit, thrown down the gauntlet over the issue, calling out his opponents over their brazen politicizing, even threatening to veto any legislation that defers the deal. "I want those who are questioning it to step up and explain why all of a sudden a Middle Eastern company is held to a different standard than a British company," he said today. He's not alone. An odd mix of conservative free-traders and liberal activists, not the least of whom is former President Jimmy Carter, have come out in support of Bush.

The fact is that port security is run, and has always been run, by the Coast Guard. In the 2004 Presidential campaign, John Kerry rightfully questioned whether we inspect enough of the cargo that arrives at our shores, but that's a seperate issue. The Coast Guard, not each port operator, was responsible for maritime security long before airport screeners were nationalized.

Overblown reactions to foreign takeovers still make great politics everywhere: witness France's hullabaloo over British Mittal Steel's bid for Luxembourg's Arcelor, or Germany's recent diatribes against "locust" investors. But such theater seldom makes good policy. Frist, Clinton, et al should admit the cynical shamelessness of their tactics and stand down. Meanwhile, Bush should at long last be applauded by the left for sticking to the principle of non-discrimination, at least in this narrow corner of international trade.