A Tangled Web

STRENGTH AND WISDOM



"Strength and wisdom are not opposing values," President Clinton said at the Democrat convention in Boston. But neither are weakness and stupidity incompatible. Everyone pretends to be strong, everyone pretends to be wise, and in the wonderful motto of Robert Musil, "If it were not so hard to distinguish stupidity from talent, progress, hope, or improvement, no one would want to be stupid."



David Warren has a wonderful take here on the race between Repulicans and Dems.



"..while American society may be splitting at the seams, the two ruling parties are struggling, tweedledum-tweedledee, to embrace the disappearing middle -- to find that ideal point, where the seam is, between the two rending buttocks of public opinion. The Republicans trying to be more compassionate, the Democrats more tough, until by election day they have got it just right, and are nearly indistinguishable, on paper." David is always a pleasure to read.