High Road, However Short : Battle-weary voters embrace Clinton and Gingrich’s respectful discussion

It wasn’t on a philosophical or rhetorical level with the Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858, by any means. For those with shorter memories and less elevated expectations it wasn’t even the Lloyd Bentsen-Dan Quayle debate of 1988. In fact, it wasn’t a debate or anything close to it. But the calm and respectful discussion of a few of the day’s major public issues that President Clinton and House Speaker Newt Gingrich held in the New Hampshire town of Claremont on Sunday was a rare and pleasant reminder that civil discourse between strong political enemies is still possible in this country. And clearly, judging from the public response, it is more than welcome.

As Americans brace themselves for another presidential campaign and the inevitable dumbing down of political discussion that those drawn-out processes have come to represent, Sunday’s encounter in the first presidential primary state is worth savoring.

No one, of course, expected the hour’s worth of amity shown by the President and Gingrich to last, let alone to serve as the model over the 17 months of campaigning until the 1996 election. Clinton and Gingrich are both dedicated to winning. Clinton certainly intends to seek renomination and reelection. Gingrich surely would be available as the Republican candidate if he thought he could get the nomination. Absent that, he will continue using the formidable powers of his office to advance his party’s fortunes. So Sunday’s show of reasonableness, tact and courtesy was, in the overall political context, something of an anomaly. That was one of the things that distinguished it. The other was how pleased, even grateful, people were for the tone of what they heard.

Opinion polls consistently show that voters are fed up with negative campaigning and the democracy-debilitating lack of substance in the national political dialogue. Among growing numbers of voters there’s a demand--hunger would not be too strong a word--for reasoned argument in place of fear-mongering and simplistic answers. In New Hampshire on Sunday a couple of seasoned pols actually opted for the high road and, wonder of wonders, tried to give people something of what they want.