Can a 'law-and-order' president get re-elected?

I RESIDE in Chevy Chase, Maryland, a well-off suburb of Washington, DC. My neighbours include government bureaucrats, lawyers, lobbyists and journalists who on a regular day have very few contacts with the "other Washington" - the mostly African-American and Hispanic residents of the poor and crime-infested sections of the city.

Which explains why my neighbourhood, with its very low rate of crime, is considered to be "safe", especially for the many high-end stores, like Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdale's, and Neiman Marcus that are located here.

But last week, the lines between the "two Washingtons" seemed to be blurring, and it felt as though the merchants of Chevy Chase were preparing themselves for war. They were shutting down and boarding up their stores, as peaceful protests, in response to a killing of a black man by a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, were followed by violent demonstrations that were spreading all over Washington and across the nation; watched by the whole world.