The Foreign Service Journal, June 2005

L E T T E R S u ambassadors et al. for Kerry. As a retired political officer who can’t let go, let me suggest a more dispassion- ate take that renders theirarguments somewhat less relevant. Much as we might have wished for Kerry or Edwards, or McCain or Lugar, or Gore four years before, to have become president, one constant in modern American politics is that incumbent senators or vice presi- dents are virtually unelectable. Ex- ceptions, you say? The only clear one is Bush senior in 1988, who made the first successful run by a sitting vice p resident since 1836’s Martin Van Buren (who, like Bush, then lost a bid for a second term). The sole success- ful senator since Harding in the 1920s was, of course, JFK, but given that he ran against a sitting vice pres- ident (Nixon) and one of them had to win, his victory did not alter the t rend. Concerned citizens like those in the Foreign Service community might devote their energies to pro- ducing a non-D.C. candidate (a la Carter, Reagan, Clinton or Bush junior) rather than letting the parties put up senators, who, no matter how attractive and/or deserving, seem to generate antipathy among the elec- torate. Of course, there is one other option for those who want to see, for example, Hillary Clinton for presi- dent in 2008. They could work for the Republicans to nominate Chen- ey, and then re-fight the election of 1960. But let’s not go there . Wa rdThompson FSO, retired Penn Valley, Calif. What Would Adams Do? In the summer of 1798, the newly- f ormed United States was seized by a patriotic, anti-French frenzy. (Sound familiar?) The French had boarded U.S. vessels looking for British con- J U N E 2 0 0 5 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 9