The past vs. the future
The first peek at a flood
HILLARY Clinton’s public/ private emails as a high- ranking official— secretary of state — are finally being released, if only in dribs and drabs. But how detect any discernible pattern to these miscellaneous excerpts and summaries? Most of these tens of thousands of emails from Our Lady of Benghazi are about the still disturbing events that occurred at an American outpost in Libya back in 2012. Their contents already have been turned over to the congressional committee that had the massive job of poring through them in search of some meaning in this undiluted mass of information, gossip, flattery, speculation, tangential irrelevancies . . . and who knows what else.
That’s how it is with the Clintons: the more they say, the less they say. It’s a kind of art they’ve developed over the years, and you’d think the rest of us would have seen through it years ago— about the time Whitewater was the big story in the news. Yet there will always be those newspapers, like the New York Times, who report every revival of this old act with breathtaking fascination. As if it were new. Or real news.
But this obdurate fact remains, and demands attention: A promising and adventuresome young American diplomat who was one of our best if not the best— Chris Stevens— was killed three years ago at an American outpost in Libya on Secretary Clinton’s watch. Along with three other Americans— and all the questions about their murder deserve to be fully addressed. Even if they may never be after all this time and political furor have passed.
The mills of justice grind slow but exceedingly fine, and this is only the modest beginning of what will surely be a long and tortuous process. But begin this country must. Too many questions remain unanswered or even unraised. And so these Augean Stables must be cleaned, even if it’s a herculean task. That’s what the press is paid for, much like any other clean- up crew that comes along after the circus is over, the tents have been folded, and the streets need cleaning.
Who would have thought a few years ago that the early stages of still another exhausting American presidential campaign would come as a relief instead of an ordeal?
But instead of dwelling on the mistakes of the past, here’s an opportunity to preview the prospects for the American future. And what can offer a more hopeful prospect of that future than the start of another American presidential campaign, when the names of candidates and prospective candidates are still fresh? And fill the horizon with starry hopes.
Every race for the American presidency is a chance to reinvigorate the old Republic once again. It’s a new beginning, as Ronald Reagan declared when he campaigned for president. Hope reappears. Once again the future is bright with possibility. And this country remains the land of the future, as every immigrant generation well knows.
This is still a frontier society, and the frontier keeps moving on, this time to 2016— and what a relief it will be to welcome it, for the Clintonian past is not only all too familiar but all too dreary. Now a new array of presidential candidates offers not only a change of subject but of mood. So strike up the band, accept the hoopla that goes along with the hope, and review the field of presidential contenders— from favorites to dark horses.
Who knows, there may be a James K. Polk, a Franklin Roosevelt, or some other history- maker out there. Lest we forget, ours is still a young country not yet ready to settle for drift instead of mastery. Why not shape history instead of letting it shape us? Some of us have not yet sold our souls to the cynics who seek only election, not greatness.
CONSIDER just the Republicans being talked about for 2016: Jeb Bush. Ben Carson. Chris Christie. Ted Cruz. Carly Fiorina. Lindsey Graham. Plus Arkansas’ former governor, presidential candidate and revivalist Mike Huckabee. Then there are Louisiana’s Bobby Jindal, Kentucky’s Rand Paul, and Marco Rubio out of Florida. A comer named Scott Walker has fought winning battle after winning battle against the special interests in Wisconsin— despite all the odds against him. Governor Walker has demonstrated that he is not a candidate to be underestimated. Doubtless other names occur to Alert Reader.
As early as 1830, writing from Berlin, the German philosopher Hegel called America “the land of the future, where, in the ages that lie before us, the burden of the world’s history shall reveal itself.” This country has lived up to Hegel’s prophecy for more than a century now, and there is no good reason it won’t continue to do so. Despite those American leaders who would retreat from the world— but who find that ours remains the indispensable nation whenever freedom is threatened. And must return to the battle, just as American troops are called on today in the Middle East.
Our current president is tempted by the old illusion of an isolationist America— a dream that was never realistic even in the youngest days of the Republic.
Who knows, this time even Hillary Clinton may have to face up to the challenge of the future instead of constantly rehashing all her past scandals. America will surprise you— and might even surprise her.