HATEVER POLITICS has got us into, politics can get us out of.
Given the yawning governmental crisis that faces the United States, we have little recourse but to turn to the time-tested cure for all governmental ills: politics. Yes, the dirty game itself. The art of the compromise. The science of splitting the difference. The ultimate game of you-show-me-yours-and-I'll-show-you-mine-and-let's-get-together. I say it's time for the grown-ups to sit down and cut a deal.
The country is between the rock of Bush and the hard place of Gore. The House and Senate are split virtually down the middle, as was the electorate. Recounts and political one-upmanship by one side or the other will not allay the doubts and fears and, yes, it is not too strong to say, the hates.
Diehard positions on issues like abortion, gun control, and impeachment have poisoned the well in Washington. There is no reservoir of trust or faith on either side. When one side or the other prevails in the naked grab for power, that act alone will infuriate the other. It's not so much that one side or the other loves their guy; it's much more of an I-can't-stand-the-thought-of-that-other-jerk raising his right hand on Jan. 20 at the Capitol and intoning, ''I do solemnly swear.''
Neither Bush nor Gore has the standing, at the moment, to resolve the impasse. The Great Impasse Remover himself, Mr. Billy Cee, has been iced by history, tradition, and reputation. Bush could not have come as close as he came sans Clinton; Gore could have won it going away if he had only employed Clinton more shrewdly and openly in the climactic two weeks. But Clinton can't help us wriggle out of this pickle now.
An election decided by fraud, trickery, deceitful officials, or a patently unfair count will haunt the putative victor and his party, perhaps for several elections to come. The punishment imposed on the Republican Party by voters enraged over Watergate set back the GOP for half a generation.
So it's time for a meet. A sitdown. A backroom confab, and I say the more cigars in that smoke-filled room, the better. For reasons that have become painfully obvious over the two terms of Clinton, the leadership in Congress is not up to the job of resolving anything meaningful.
For that reason, I propose that we bring back some giants of the past, a select handful from each party, and park them in the dining room of the Hay-Adams, and lock the doors till they reach a deal. We've been preaching peaceful accommodation to the Irish, the Middle East, the Korean peninsula, the Balkans; time to practice what we preach. Each side has to give.
From the GOP alumni pool, I nominate Bob Dole, Howard Baker, and John Danforth. From the Democrats, I summon George Mitchell, Mario Cuomo, and Lee Hamilton. They have no power other than moral suasion and towering reputations. That's all they need. So, gentlemen: what's the deal?
The deal is this: We freeze election results in 49 states other than Florida. There, we allow a manual recount in all counties. We dismiss out of hand any notion of re-running any election in any jurisdiction. We say, ''sorry, you're out of luck,'' to all those butterfly ballot victims who double-punched and thereby voided their ballot in Palm Beach County.
What sweeteners do we add to the deal to persuade the ultimate loser in Florida to stand down gracefully? Say Al Gore winds up the loser when the absentees and the recounts give Florida to Bush. The Republicans, in my rosy scenario, would say: OK, here's what we'll promise: The Senate in our lame-duck session of Congress will vote to confirm half the 75 federal judicial nominations we have stalled for the last year.
Second, the GOP majorities in Congress pledge not to investigate Bill or Hillary Clinton for any of the scandals that are hanging over them, forcing them to fork over millions in legal fees ad infinitum. Third, for a period of two years, until the results of the 2002 congressional elections, we will hew to a relatively centrist course, recognizing that the replacements of either Senators Strom Thurmond or Jesse Helms would be appointed by Democratic governors, and that could change control of the Senate.
We, the GOP graybeards could offer, will not try to radically alter Social Security or precipitously pull US troops out of the Balkans or plow ahead with that controversial missile defense shield our allies abhor. None of that red meat stuff. We'll play it safe and slow till the country indicates in the next election which way it wants to hop.
Further, we pledge to include at least three members of the other party in our new president's Cabinet. The Bill Cohen role in the Clinton Cabinet was an unqualified success. We'll try for a government of national unity, like the Israelis are trying under duress. Finally, our president will meet weekly with the congressional leaders of the other side. Bush will sit with Tom Daschle and Richard Gephardt, David Bonior and Ted Kennedy, and we'll work things out.
If Gore wins, the Democrats could operate along the same lines. It's called politics. It works. Eventually. Because the alternative is, as von Clausewitz drily observed, war.
David Nyhan's e-mail address is nyhan@globe.com.
