Having a thousand Facebook "friends" becomes a new American dream. "Here in Washington, D.C., we know networking," the Rev. Scott Garber told his congregation at the Washington Community Fellowship. "We can build constituencies. We caucus for causes and bond with co-belligerents. What we don't do so well is genuine friendship. Because when you pursue friendship for the purpose of power, the power of friendship disappears."
Acrimony on Capitol Hill is not new, but what is new is the lack of collegiality after hours. Harry Truman's famous caution about friendship in Washington ("If you want a friend, get a dog") has become "treat your friends like dogs." Debates move quickly into personal attacks. The mild-mannered Elizabeth Edwards accuses Hillary Clinton of "acting like a man," and the comedy becomes farce when Bill Clinton chivalrously rides to his wife's rescue, telling us that no, she's not like a man. Well, he would know.
Could there have been a dumber "question" than the one posed in a recent presidential debate than when each candidate was instructed to turn left (or was it right?) and say something that he doesn't like about his rival? We act as though we have no common goals.
"Politics ain't beanbag," as Mr. Dooley duly noted, but it doesn't have to be beheadings, either. The friendship that continues between Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg proves it. Justice Scalia, a Catholic and a staunch conservative, and Justice Ginsburg, a Jew and dedicated liberal, are fast friends off the bench, and their families celebrate New Year's Eve together. There can be more to talk about than politics.
John Adams, our second president, and Thomas Jefferson, our third, were serious enemies after John Adams left the White House. But they discovered common affinities in old age and a thriving correspondence on many subjects flourished -- without Apples or BlackBerrys or anything but quill and parchment -- until they died within hours of each other on the Fourth of July. If we tried, most of us wouldn't have to wait that long to make a real friend.