IT'S TIME TO DRAW FROM LINCOLN LEGACY

At last, it appears, we have closure. And a new president. With Vice President Al Gore's speech last night, America's 36-day nightmare can come to an end -- and end it must.

We say "can" come to an end because it isn't at all clear that it will. There are those who seem to want to prolong the indecisive quagmire still further, either for narrow partisan purposes or fevered ideological ones. Or a combination of the two.

There is, for example, the Rev. Jesse Jackson-Al Sharpton wing of the Democratic Party, agitators who have spent the last five weeks trying to convince us that in Florida, blacks were prevented from voting.

The facts refute this fantasy. While blacks represent 13 percent of Florida's population, surveys show they turned out in huge numbers, representing 16 percent of the voters.

And this is good. Democratic turnout efforts were indeed impressive, and we applaud all Americans who took the trouble to vote in this closest of presidential elections.

A move toward healing

In his address to the nation last night, Gore set in motion a healing process that will move the country away from the bitterness and divisiveness of the past five weeks. The vice president is to be commended for accepting, as he pledged to do, the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court.

It is worth noting that there is a far better approach. President-elect George W. Bush, who has the ability to unite those who share differing viewpoints, is unusually positioned to fill this role. Writing in National Review Online, Lincoln scholar Kent Lassman has a fascinating proposal for the Bush inaugural:

"A grand memorial to the president who will forever be remembered as the man who kept America together anchors one end of the national mall. At the other end is the Capitol -- home to the closely divided 107th Congress and location of many past inaugurals.

"Bush would do well to break with custom and hold his inauguration on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. ... The statement would be even more dramatic than President Carter's decision to walk the parade route to be closer to the people.

A fitting place

"The Lincoln Memorial is an altogether fitting place for Bush to take his place in history as an instrument to create a more perfect union. Like Lincoln, Bush would call on Americans to go forth in word and deed with charity and forgiveness firmly imprinted on our hearts and minds. The Lincoln Memorial is more than a monument to a single man or his achievements. It is a symbol of the highest American virtues, a nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."

Great challenges await Bush as president. We have just finished an election in which almost 100 million votes were nearly evenly divided between the two presidential candidates. The U.S. Senate is equally divided at 50-50. The House of Representatives has a razor-thin Republican majority of 222-213.

Lassman, again:

"The inaugural address undoubtedly will attract scrutiny from all corners of the world and both ends of the political spectrum. From everyday people who give vigor and life to the American Dream to the partisans and pundits high atop their televised perches, together we will look for a leader.

"We will look for evidence of a man to make us proud as citizens of the world's oldest democracy and a man to lead us with moral courage in the face of national adversity. ... It is time to draw deeply from the well of Lincoln's legacy and to remind everyone of this enduring truth: We are one nation despite our differences."

Amen to that. Our president-elect could do far worse than to heed this wise counsel.