Think! while you still have me
Move! while you still see me
You'll be lost and you'll be so sorry when I'm gone.
~ Jesus of Nazareth in the Broadway Musical Jesus Christ Superstar
Washington whispers come like torrents when giants forego their feifdoms.
Robert Novak yesterday raised to a deafening scream the threatened whisper of Trent Lott's impending retirement:
Trent Lott within the next week plans to decide between seeking a fourth term in the U.S. Senate from Mississippi or retiring from public life.That could determine whether Republicans keep control of the Senate in next year's elections. For the longer range, Lott's retirement and replacement could signal that Southern political realignment has peaked and now is receding.
Just as the bankrupt banker marks the day that caused his fall, just as the starlet powders the eye-corner wrinkle that marks her decline, just as empires rue the decadence that betray their eventual demise, so will conservatives mark Trent Lott's retirement as the beginning of the end.
History is made of moments.