happy birthday, hillary. you were destined to great things. and you knew it. *** i am astounded . i graduated in political science from the university of naples, the university of saint thomas aquinas, giambattista vico, and benedetto croce, in something like the 750 th graduating class; i have tried to keep up with the field as much as i could, even though i have preferred to concentrate on economics and political economy. i have always gotten along with the assumption that politics is "the art of the possible." but, let us give a good look at it. what is in this formula, if not a put down; a downgrading, so downgrading, characterization of this noble science? no wonder politics has become the art of bickering; the art of discord; the art of grasping at reefs, while we are drowning in perilous waters. no wonder, politics in the united states and much around the world has become polarized between two factions that fight for supremacy to the death. not the death of the political class, but to the psychological and physical death of millions of people--in this country, the richest of the countries, the last best hope for mankind. let alone the millions overseas. no wonder both the right and the left are focused on this set of policies: "deny them their rights; take their dignity away; give them a warm soup in a cold winter night; and go to sleep in peace." what to say of this debasement of charity? what to say of this debasement of high morality? what to say of this debasement of politics? and there i was the other night, hearing and seeing the following words written on the screen of cnn, in their documentary on hillary clinton: - advertisement - "politics is not the art of the possible" politics is the art of making the impossible" possible." these are the words, not of hillary of today or yesterday. these are the words of a young woman who breaks with tradition at the stodgy prestigious wellesley college and becomes the first valedictorian in the history of that college. this is hillary who is called to lead her class, not via invitation by academicians or administrators at wellesley, but by her classmates who recognized the force of her leadership. this is hillary rodham, later to become clinton, who throws away her prepared speech and delivers her oration extemporaneously: "politics is not the art of the possible" politics is the art of making the impossible" possible." this is hillary who is immediately recognized in the national press as a force of nature: woman's nature. this is a woman who could have been researching and writing and talking about political science for a lifetime. - advertisement - this is a woman who could have climbed the rungs of academia with grace and ease. instead" she preferred to practice what she had discovered at such a young age. she rolled up her sleeves and went to work to make it possible for children to have a better life than the one to which they were clearly doomed by a society in thrall of control and scarcity and fear .
hillary, the political scientist
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