Better the imperfect, partly nuclearized world that we know. But this is an increasingly uncomfortable place to be in. It is scary to have more and more nuclear bombs out there in others' hands. We have a security rationale, a good-faith obligation and a requirement of leadership to show the way to smaller, safer nuclear capabilities everywhere. For some that means lower numbers, for others zero.
Abolition is a nonstarter.
But it would be a stunning initiative for the United States to put itself on a gradual downward slope toward a so-called minimum deterrent. Reduction by unilateral example on the model successfully pursued by George Bush would leave us with a force of our own design and would produce a more powerful impact on others weighing reductions than any conceivable negotiating strategy. It is an unimaginable number justified by administration stalwarts in the name of deterrence but never related to any concrete war plan. Some will say Clinton has lost the opportunity in Washington to seize the issue. And whether he has a partner in Moscow remains to be determined.