Jimmy Carter Meets the World

In the weeks between election and inauguration we tend to think of a new Administration as having been handed a tabula rasa on which it will write its own chapter in the chronicle of the nation. We speculate on “the real” beliefs and intentions of the Chief-to-be, and ask ourselves whether he will “honor” his campaign pledges. We study the record of the aides he chooses for auguries of policies and actions to come. In each appointment and each new declaration we discern a promise or a threat.

In sober moments we realize that these metaphors of clean slate and new chapter, like the slogans of New Democracy, New Deal, and the rest, are fanciful. In history there are no “new beginnings.” The present is only the front edge of the past.

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James Burnham

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In the weeks between election and inauguration we tend to think of a new Administration as having been handed a tabula rasa on which it will write its own chapter in the chronicle of the nation. We speculate on “the real” beliefs and intentions of the Chief-to-be, and ask ourselves whether he will “honor” his campaign pledges. We study the record of the aides he chooses for auguries of policies and actions to come. In each appointment and each new declaration we discern a promise or a threat.

In sober moments we realize that these metaphors of clean slate and new chapter, like the slogans of New Democracy, New Deal, and the rest, are fanciful. In history there are no “new beginnings.” The present is only the front edge of the past.