Potomac High

Candidates such as Edwards and Obama, she implied, were mouthing irresponsible rhetoric about cutting spending for the war while she (and only she) had the safety of the troops in mind. “I am cursed with the responsibility gene,” she said archly. “I am. I admit to that. You’ve got to be very careful in how you proceed with any combat situation in which American lives are at stake.”

She was impressively presidential in her studious, almost censorious, way—carefully attired in deep red, her tone competent, severe and ready to take on all comers.

Yet she also was the kid we know from high school: the one who claims to be the only “adult” in the 11th grade. Sometimes they are cheered. Sometimes they are booed. Sometimes—and this is the worst fate—they get laughed at silently.

© 2007