The Presidency: Nixon's Paradox

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Richard Nixon's way is the via media. On almost every issue he has confronted since he took office, the President has steered a middle course — or zigzagged from right to left in an effort to maintain a national equilibrium. Thus in his welfare package, Nixon made a gesture to the left by advocating a minimum annual income and to the right by keeping that subsidy at $1,600 for a family of four, far below the poverty line, and insisting that recipients accept "suitable" employment or vocational training. He suggested tax reforms, but would prefer to maintain the oil-depletion allowance. He began calling home troops from Viet Nam, yet keeps the level of withdrawal so small that the actual U.S. military presence there is substantially unaffected.

The President's enthusiasm for this kind of metronomic statecraft found startling expression last week during Nixon's first press conference in three months. Said he: "There are those who want instant integration and those who want segregation forever. I believe we need to have a middle course. . . But what is the midpoint between Now and Forever? In mathematical terms, it is an absurd conception—dividing infinity in half yields infinity. Richard Nixon might consider Zeno's paradox: In perpetually moving half the distance between one's present position and an ultimate goal, one is condemned to never reach that goal.