I Think One Of Life's

Sure, Losing An Election Hurts, But I've Experienced Worse. And At An Age When Every Day Is Precious, Brooding Over What Might Have Been Is Self-defeating. In Conceding The 1996 Election, I Remarked That "tomorrow Will Be The First Time In My Life I Don't Have Anything To Do." I Was Wrong. Seventy-two Hours After Conceding The Election, I Was Swapping Wisecracks With David Letterman On His Late-night Show.

Yet When The Blood Of The Sons Of Immigrants And The Grandsons Of Slaves Fell On Foreign Fields, It Was American Blood. In It You Could Not Read The Ethnic Particulars Of The Soldier Who Died Next To You. He Was An American. And When I Think Of How We Learned This Lesson, I Wonder How We Could Have Unlearned It.

It's Going To Be Hard For Someone Like Me To Run For President.

You Read What Disraeli Had To Say. I Don't Remember What He Said. He Said Something. He's No Longer With Us.

One Of My Most Often Repeated Quips Was The One I Made When Former Presidents Carter, Ford And Nixon Stood By Each Other At A White House Event. 'there They Are,' I Said. 'see No Evil, Hear No Evil, And . . . Evil.'