Lowering the Volume

By BOB HERBERT
New York Times

There may be some grown-ups left in the Democratic Party after all.

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama did themselves and their party a world of good on Thursday night by conducting themselves with grace and dignity throughout their widely hyped debate in the celebrity-filled Kodak Theater in Los Angeles.

After the food fight in South Carolina and the speculation that these two history-making candidates genuinely dislike one another, the run-up to the debate had a touch of the atmosphere that preceded the Ali-Frazier fight in 1971.

To their credit, the candidates lowered the volume.

Mrs. Clinton got a big laugh when she said: “You know, it did take a Clinton to clean after the first Bush, and I think it might take another one to clean up after the second Bush.” She intended the line to be funny. But it also addressed a profound truth about politics and government in the United States.

In his biography of Tom Paine, John Keane referred to a pamphlet that Paine had written near the end of his life and said:

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