As the din from the contention between Texas Gov. George W. Bush and Vice President Al Gore over a few hundred votes in Florida climbed to a mind-blowing crescendo, the current resident of the White House distanced himself from the fray for a few days.
You can't get much farther from Tallahassee, West Palm Beach and Miami-Dade County than Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and other parts of Vietnam.
In becoming the first American president to visit Vietnam in a quarter of a century, President Clinton opened a chapter in American diplomatic history that is as promising as the Bush-Gore legalistic wrangling over the presidency is disappointing and degrading to the story of the world's greatest republic.
Clinton's Vietnam excursion could not be accurately characterized as a "let-bygones-be-bygones" gesture. Even after 25 years, neither country is ready for that.
Too much blood was shed in the Vietnam War to make forgetting and forgiving come easily.
Too much destruction was rained on a small, Third World country to allow older Vietnamese who lived through it to put the memories of the war's horrors out of mind readily.
Too much political damage was done in our country because of the divisions of opinion on U.S. participation in the war. Some bitter feelings persist between those Americans who fought in the war or lost loved ones and those who waged a propaganda war against the war.
Clinton's visit to Vietnam did, however, symbolize the possibility of a healing over time, after a few years of normalized economic relations and culture interchange. The very fact that he could go there and be welcomed cordially suggests that the two countries have come a long way toward that objective since the end of the war.
One development that will accelerate that process is Vietnam's assurance of strong commitment to finding the remains of, or otherwise accounting for, the U.S. military personnel still categorized as missing in action. The Vietnamese have a strong incentive for doing that because the United States has earmarked $19 million annually for the effort.
At the same time, this country has pledged to provide strong support for the effort to account for 300,000 Vietnamese MIAs.
Such commitments suggest that there might be a credible accounting for the MIAs of both countries before there is one for the votes cast by Floridians in the 2000 U.S. presidential election.
More historical significance rode with the president on his Vietnam sojourn than its relevance to bilateral trade and the finding of MIAs. It amounted to a symbolic affirmation that the madness that was the Vietnam War actually worked out for the better for all involved.
America lost a war that it could easily have won. But in losing, it may actually have won. Had it won literally, the United States might still have occupying forces fighting a hit-and-run guerrilla action there, and it could be spending billions trying to rebuild the war-torn country.
We didn't go all out to win largely because of domestic political opposition to the war. Much of that opposition sprang from genuine idealistic motives and was based on sound reasoning. Some of it was well-meaning but misguided. Some of it was rebellion seeking a cause.
And some of it was pure self-interest on the part of ambitious young people who didn't wish to delay their careers to fight for their country.
Regardless of the motivations involved in it, the opposition kept this country from achieving a victory that would in the long run have been more costly than defeat.
In a very real sense, this country did not lose in Vietnam because it achieved its strategic objective, which was to halt the spread of international communism in Southeast Asia. The domino effect, which was scoffed at by war opponents, did not happen because the winners of the war had been so badly bloodied that they couldn't expand their war of aggression.
The Soviet Union's heavy expenditures in support of Vietnam contributed significantly to the ultimate decline and fall of that empire.
Those whose names are carved into that dark marble wall in Washington and those still missing in action did not lose a war. They helped save much of the world from life under tyranny.
In representing them in Vietnam, Clinton made history of a much higher order than the disgraceful chapter that Bush and Gore are adding to the American
Cecil Johnson is a former columnist and editorial writer for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Visit the Star-Telegram's online services on the World Wide Web: www.star-telegram.com.