I've heard that Nixonland can be a depressing book -- it does describe the spectacle of a certain political party whose name begins with a "D" tearing itself to shreds in divisive presidential primary fights and then nominating sweet-tempered goo-goos who get rolled over by a Republican mountebank who'll say anything to win. That selfsame mountebank outright robs the mantle of populism from the Party of the People by somehow saddling the Democrats for a generation or more with the label elitist. As I said, depressing.
Well, like old Tony Grasci used to say down by the docks, "pessmism of the intellect, optimism of the will" -- there's never been any other option for champions of ordinary people who wish to keep on keepin' on in the often thankless struggle to wrestle power from the privileged.
But there's hope in Nixonland, too. I pointed to some of that yesterday when I printed Edmund Muskie's great November 2, 1970 nationally televised speech calling an electorate to, when they went to the polls the next day, turn from Republicans calls to hatred and fear and to join him in casting the lever -- and they listened! -- that dares to believe, "The world is a baffling and hazardous place, but it can be shaped by the will of men."
