Last week a rumour swept Washington as to who might become John Kerry's running mate. Several names have been in the hat in recent weeks – John Edwards, Dick Gephart, even Hillary Clinton. But last week's name made heads snap upright. It was the name of John McCain.
It could work – McCain has a lot in common with Kerry. Like the Democratic presidential candidate he's a Vietnam war hero; and like Kerry, he can't stand George W Bush. The catch is that McCain is a Republican. In 2000, you may remember, he nearly became the Republican presidential candidate. Nearly.
The reason McCain got mentioned as a possible running mate for Kerry (although it won't actually happen) is because, outside business hours, he doesn't mind talking with political opponents. In fact McCain numbers leading Democrats among his friends, including John Kerry and Joseph Lieberman.
Those who know behind the scenes at the British House of Commons say something similar happens there. Labour and Conservative and Lib Dem politicians on the floor of the House go after each other with skin-ripping vigour. In the bar afterwards, as often as not, they can be seen having an affable yarn.
There are dangers attached to this sort of thing, and the main one is that backward sections of the public might not like it. They might decide these politicians don't mean what they say. They might even decide that politicians are a bunch of best mates, pretending they have deeply-held convictions, when the only thing they really feel strongly about is their fat salaries.
That kind of thinking doesn't seem to bother McCain. It's unlikely he'll do a Jeffrey Donaldson and parachute into the opposition's camp. But he continues to distinguish between policy from personality, and goes on relating to others, including his political opponents, on a courteous, human level.
Might our politicians catch the McCain disease? Hardly. The UUP have made it clear they will strike no deals with Sinn Féin. Not just that, but in all the years of meeting and negotiating, David Trimble has managed to shake Gerry Adams's hand just once, and that was in a moment of forgetfulness, apparently. Courtesy? Humanity? Hah.
The DUP, of course, have most of the UUP's prejudices multiplied by ten. To avoid infection by Sinn Féin words, they brought their referees' whistles and toy trumpets into Belfast City Council. Sitting in the same room as republicans brought them out in hives, so they always had to have a separate studio for radio or TV debate. In the run-up to the last election they realised that they looked like a bunch of glowering culchies, so they started sharing discussion panels with Sinn Féin. And you've probably noticed that they've smiled and laughed on-camera more often in the last three months than they did in the last three decades. That's because they're keen to be seen as affable chaps who've been misunderstood. But hand-shake with republicans or even establish eye contact? Forget it.
The reason given by the DUP and the UUP for this boorish behaviour is that it's their way of showing moral repugnance. Republicans, they say, are wedded to violence, and so it behoves good-living people to draw their garments about them and avoid infection.
This highly moral argument falls down and cracks its chin when you remember how the UUP and the DUP have responded over the years to other nationalist parties – say, the SDLP or members of the Irish government. There may be a photograph somewhere of Trimble or Empey or Paisley or Robinson having a relaxed chat with a member of the SDLP or Fianna Fail, but I haven't seen it. And I'll bet neither have you. There is a photograph of Trimble with the Pope, but in it you can see how UUP leader has retreated to the edge of the group and has his gaze swivelled firmly away from His Holiness.
In his report for RTE news on Tuesday night, Northern editor Tommie Gorman said he had seen Michael McDowell sharing a sweet and a joke with Gerry Adams during a break in talks at Stormont. If that actually happened – and it does have a surreal feel to it – then both men are to be applauded. To say they have colliding political aspirations would be an understatement, but that shouldn't prevent them treating each other with courtesy and warmth.
Because where such human responses are present, respect and agreement will eventually emerge. Where they are absent, bigotry and 'not-an-inchery' will continue to triumph and shackle us all to the past.
