Capital punishment

PROMISE:

Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama are ready from “day one” with platforms which hold the promise of benefiting all Americans, of changing the direction of our country, of restoring competence to the presidency.

Both are uniquely qualified to do so. Once sworn in, our new president will hit a wall. Only one candidate has experienced its effects.

On 23 January 1993, a couple with an established life goal of helping others took up residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. They, and the Americans who sent them there, had high hopes.

Bill Clinton would soon find out that his predecessor had “cooked the books,” that the deficit was far higher than was previously known – the biggest dollar deficit in American history. The reality: many of his campaign promises would be put on hold because of inherited economic woes.

The $290 billion deficit Clinton inherited is chump change compared with what our new president will face, so don’t expect campaign promises to materialize miraculously.

POISONED DARTS

Carl Bernstein, of Watergate’s Woodward and Bernstein, brings his best investigative reporting skills to his book, “A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton.”

The Clintons learned early on how tough it is to go up against the Washington establishment.

Bernstein quotes the following “welcome to Washington” article:

"Making Capital Gains: Welcome to Washington, But Play By Our Rules," Sally Quinn, The Washington Post, Outlook section, p. 01, Nov. 15, 1992, 1,965 words. (Buy archived article)

Ms. Quinn is the wife of former Washington Post Executive Editor Benjamin Bradlee and a noted Washington hostess. She offered 1,965 words of advice from the “in-crowd” to the incoming president and first lady, but none were so incisive as these:

“Think of it this way: your plane has crashlanded in the middle of Brazil, and you find yourself surrounded by a curious and possibly hostile tribe. Instead of giving them beads and eating the monkey tongues they’ve offered you, you decide that you don’t need their help. Fine. But, don’t be surprised if you end up with poisoned darts in your backside. Like any other culture, Washington has its own totems and taboos. It would serve the newcomers well to learn to abide by them.”

The Clintons and their transplanted Arkansans learned the hard way – and fast – what happens when you don’t play by the rules of the Washington elite. Bernstein brilliantly documents their saga.

Once more, Hillary holds the experience card.

Obama is running on a promise of changing Washington, of somehow transporting his cheering rally-goers into a position of power in D.C. Let’s hope, if elected, he – and all his true believers – don’t end up with poisoned darts in their backsides.

Just as she was told to do when flying into Bosnia, Hillary has learned to sit on her flak jacket. Perhaps experience has taught her that diplomacy and compromise work best - from one end of Pennsylvania Avenue to the other.

It’s becoming clearer every day that the alternative to a Democratic win in November is unthinkable.

So, let’s hope beyond hope that once the votes are counted and the inherent and inherited obstacles are overcome, the core values of the Democratic Party will once more emerge to lift an America left foundering.