THE WEEK

The perfect running-mate for Fritz Mondale would probably be Sister Boom Boom, a San Francisco . . . well, personality. Sister Boom Boom is actually a male transvestite who wears a nun’s habit with lots of mascara and black tights. We don’t know his position on the MX, but just about every other constituency Mondale has been wooing seems to converge in Sister Boom Boom.

The counsel of Senators Baker and Percy (“We need a summit and we need it now”) was probably motivated less by budding statesmanship and sweeping vision than by simple election-year politics. The Kremlin, of course, is never above engaging in the unseemly politics of peace. One day after the Washington Post had Reagan rebuffing his fellow Republicans, Kremlin spokesman Leonid Zamyatin stated at a press conference that Chernenko was prepared to meet with Reagan and negotiate a host of issues. The President’s own press conference that same evening was dominated by questions about the possibility of a summit meeting. Unenthusiastic, to say the least, about Reagan’s re-election, the Soviet leadership would like to raise false expectations about a summit meeting, only to generate disappointment when none takes place. Or conversely, to schedule a pre-election summit and then make certain it flops, so that the President’s opponents can claim he lacks the ability to negotiate with the Soviets. President Reagan, to his credit, has recognized the risks and the needlessness of a hastily arranged election-year summit. While leaving the door open for reconvening arms-control negotiations, he has refused to heed the election-year piper’s tune (of peace). After all, there will be plenty of time for him to meet with Chernenko after January 20, 1985—and only then will Chernenko negotiate with him seriously.

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The perfect running-mate for Fritz Mondale would probably be Sister Boom Boom, a San Francisco . . . well, personality. Sister Boom Boom is actually a male transvestite who wears a nun’s habit with lots of mascara and black tights. We don’t know his position on the MX, but just about every other constituency Mondale has been wooing seems to converge in Sister Boom Boom.

The counsel of Senators Baker and Percy (“We need a summit and we need it now”) was probably motivated less by budding statesmanship and sweeping vision than by simple election-year politics. The Kremlin, of course, is never above engaging in the unseemly politics of peace. One day after the Washington Post had Reagan rebuffing his fellow Republicans, Kremlin spokesman Leonid Zamyatin stated at a press conference that Chernenko was prepared to meet with Reagan and negotiate a host of issues. The President’s own press conference that same evening was dominated by questions about the possibility of a summit meeting. Unenthusiastic, to say the least, about Reagan’s re-election, the Soviet leadership would like to raise false expectations about a summit meeting, only to generate disappointment when none takes place. Or conversely, to schedule a pre-election summit and then make certain it flops, so that the President’s opponents can claim he lacks the ability to negotiate with the Soviets. President Reagan, to his credit, has recognized the risks and the needlessness of a hastily arranged election-year summit. While leaving the door open for reconvening arms-control negotiations, he has refused to heed the election-year piper’s tune (of peace). After all, there will be plenty of time for him to meet with Chernenko after January 20, 1985—and only then will Chernenko negotiate with him seriously.