When a red-in-the-face Bill Clinton tells off an interviewer on Fox News, he
may fire up his party's long frustrated base, and win the plaudits of those
partisans who made up their minds long ago. About everything. But his little
tizzy cost him more than his dignity. While reveling in the chance to tell
off his critics, he lost an opportunity to raise the level of public
discourse.
Amid all the finger-pointing rage and the kind of selective history that's
good mainly for rhetorical purposes, reason evaporates. Bill Clinton's
attack was followed predictably enough by counter-attacks, and what might
have been a meaningful debate about the future gave way to one more rehash
of the past. Given an opportunity to address the next generation, the former
president seemed interested only in making points for the next election, or
maybe the one after that. Which seemed the extent of his vision.
Much the same goes for George W. Bush when he responds to provocative
questions at his news conference not by trying to raise the level of
discussion but by going after the questioner. The president is less than
presidential at such moments. With the result that the case he should be
making - the case for going after terrorism on its home ground, for
expanding democracy in the Middle East, for victory instead of drift - goes
unmade.
And so another opportunity to raise the level of public discourse is lost,
replaced by partisan slogans. Labels take the place of thought: cut-and-run,
stay-the-course fill in your own cliche. Meanwhile, the appeal to reason
goes unmade.
Other leaders have appealed to high principle at other critical times, well
knowing the price they would pay. Nevertheless, they chose to pursue the
opportunity to make a difference in history, to shape it rather than be
shaped by it.
Think of the despised Churchill of the 1930s, that low, sordid decade, who
dared warn of the gathering storm even if it meant he would be ignored - at
least until he was sorely needed.
Think of the then unpopular Harry Truman, who chose to stand fast in Korea
("Truman's War") rather than either withdraw or turn that conflict into a
world war while his presidential term drained away in frustration.
Think of how Ronald Reagan was ridiculed and railed against when he foresaw
a world without the Soviet Union, and dared call that regime the evil empire
it was.
Even in the midst of a congressional election that promises much heat,
little light and even less honor, every press conference, every public
appearance, every political speech presents every national leader with an
opportunity to raise the level of public discourse. Each time our
politicians choose to debase it instead - in order to please the crowd, or
just to serve their own egos - they pay the cost. They lose the opportunity
to mark the history of these times with their honor.