Elizabeth Warren through Me

If I could choose a dream job this year it would be to work on Elizabeth Warren’s speech writing staff.  There is no politician left-of-center in this country who can match her ability to present concepts with both conveyed understanding and honest compassion.  Frankly, I feel it is likely there is no one, left, right, or center, who can match her, but then…I have a bias.

That said, no such dream job is coming my way.  However, I figured I could play my little role anyway.  I’d write her a short speech, maybe more than one, and post them to this blog.  

Right now she has chosen to expose early the unstable nature and character of the Republican Presidential Nominee and in doing so expose the Republican Party itself, as their candidate is of their creation.  I want to join in, even in this very small way.

"Elizabeth Warren" on Trump, May 2016

Broadcast May 17^th, Donald Trump ended his friendly Megan Kelly interview with these words; “…if I don’t win, I will consider it to be a total and complete waste of time, energy, and money”. Think about it. What is this man saying? You could not find a more shallow narrative, in this great land, for someone seeking its highest office.

Why do any of us do anything?  Sure we want prosperity, we want security, we want to raise our children to survive our lives, hopefully with joys that far surpass our own. We want to feel our labors have value. Conservative and liberal, black and white, rich and poor, or the middle class, we all set our goals and expectations. In this we have more in common than we have differences.

With these efforts, or even struggles, there are successes and failures.  Ya win some and ya lose some. Who’s not familiar with that? But who are the real losers?

The young single mother who strives to raise her children using whatever help available is not a loser, the banker who lost his deal on principal is not a loser, the news producer who suffered a loss in ratings by choosing to ignore untruths is not a loser, the student saddled with debt who struggles to find a career is not a loser. 

We are supremely blessed to live in a nation with almost incalculable success relative to the rest of the world and history.  We still fail and often, but the resilience by which we struggle and manage the many changes we face become our finest moments.  It is why I believe that America is greater today than whatever time it is that Donald Trump thinks he wants to take us back to.

Make America Great Again is really only a slogan fashioned for reality TV.

Trump may end up being one of our finest moments.  To the extent the voters of this Country rally behind all his opponents and also against those that support him at every level of Government we may be entering a new era of optimism and unification…a grinding end to a Cold Civil War.

Like most Americans, I am tired of systemic and heartless discrimination, tired of people convinced to be scared of anyone not like themselves, tired of the denial of science, and tired of feeling apprehensive with those who may not think just as I do.  This tiresome American is what Donald Trump would take us back to. It isn’t winning.

What Trump was saying in his final comment to Megan Kelly was if I don’t win, then screw you America, you weren’t worth it. I’d have done better using my time, energy, and money picking up a few more foreclosed properties.

Donald Trump, considering his current position as leader of the Republican Party and nominee for President, is the ultimate loser.  He's a loser because he has no concept of what winning is. In fact, his narrow, caustic, narcissistic personality will never…never allow him to actually win. He personifies the lowest, most hideous human characteristic short of sadism – insatiable self-interest.

The greater sadness, even danger is to those who are choosing to emulate what Trump represents.  Please pay attention and realize that all your efforts have meaning, as do the honest efforts of those you encounter. Otherwise, you run the risk of losing in life.

 

 

 

Reason for Hope

Hope and Change was the Obama theme in 2008. Had we been able to see the future it might have been more aptly stated as Triage and Resuscitate.

What he accomplished by leading the nation away from financial catastrophe, to winning the first critical step toward national healthcare, and applying respected rationality to international affairs will make him historically relevant and a source of pride for most Americans alive today.

But what about the hope and change goal he first declared by addressing the Democratic convention in 2004? Remember: “no blue states, no red states, just the United States of America”.

Perhaps his slogan in 2008 should have been Yes We Could (?) instead of Yes We Can. His major political failure of not leading the Democratic Party to be competitive in the 2010 off-season election, a census year, cost him any ability to turn back the divisiveness and inequality that pervades American society.  And so it goes.

So now we have Donald Trump, which newsmen, pundits, and polls are suggesting could, in fact, be the next President.  Trump, a creation of both the divisiveness and the lack of solutions to it, should be no surprise. But he is a surprise…and maybe that’s a good thing.

I still can’t get myself close to believing he could win in November. It would be just too surreal. Trump makes George W. Bush look like an articulate genius.  His ignorance is mind boggling, nearly Sara Palin quality.  I’m not saying he’s stupid like Palin. However going to a quality University isn’t very meaningful when you spend the next 46 years reading nothing more perceptive than a balance sheet or longer than a twitter feed.

Did anyone not see him struggle to read his proclamation to ban all Muslims from entering the country? The only line he was comfortable with was the inane end punctuation “…until we find out what the hell is goin’ on”.  Five dollars says that’s the only line he wrote.  

The real fear I have, as I have written previously, is that he doesn’t lose big.  Because of the uphill climb Hillary Clinton has to motivate voters, she might end up winning no differently than Obama did in 2012, an electoral victory with little down ballot changes. Without at least a Democratic super-majority in the Senate this nation will continue to tread water.

The Republican Party to the rescue!!! What me worry?

The insanity of Donald Trump has been obvious to Republicans for nearly a year and they haven’t been shy to admit it.  Then when reality TV suddenly became reality the Republican political establishment had a choice; support him or throw him under the bus. It was touch and go for a while, but thankfully they chose the former.

Republican politicians, almost without exception, have now actively or tacitly rallied around the Donald.  They think; well the polls don’t look too bad, we sure hate Hillary, he could turn Presidential.  It’s like they’re putting icing on a cow pie and saying it looks pretty good, might as well dig in.

What they’ve done by not throwing Trump under the bus is attached him to every single Republican running for office, from dog catcher to Governor to US Senator.  Every quote of Donald Trump’s will be their quote.  It’s quite possible that many Republicans will be caught between a rock and a hard place having to answer for every idiot statement he makes or Twitters, or for that matter every absurd and asinine comment he has already made.

The Democratic Party better take notice and soon.

I expect Hillary Clinton to be a great President, better than her husband, clearly the stronger personality between the two…more intelligent besides. The fact that she is a woman will impact the nation in even a more positive way than did Obama’s race. What I’m not expecting is her turning into a great campaigner, which she is not.

But who knows. Hope springs eternal.  Maybe the Donald will get a little help from Hillary in deconstructing the Republican Party.  I, for one, would like to see the GOP rebuilt, but without the Rush Limbaughs of the world eating away at its foundation, like so many self-absorbed termites.

Reality Check

We all experience moments when the present becomes inescapable, where we can’t imagine it away.  Such must be the awareness faced by the condemned once their execution becomes imminent or perhaps of a survivor in the desert as he drinks his last drops of water.  This is really happening, one might painfully acknowledge.

With his overwhelming win in Indiana, Donald Trump is now going to be one of two human beings to vie for the leadership of some 330 million Americans.  Donald Trump.  Donald Trump?? Sure we all knew the possibility, we observed the show, but…Donald Trump….really??

For me it was like looking down at the bottom of a dry cup and feeling sand between my lips. This is really going to happen??  Yes, America…it really is.

Let me point out that even through my incredulity I had welcomed his candidacy.  I even voted for him in the Virginia Primary with the thought that a vote for the Donald would do more to undermine Conservative extremism than a vote for Hillary.  Hopefully, I was right. 

Still, I’m concerned as to why he has appealed to so many.  Could I be so wrong about this Country or the acumen of its citizens? Why can’t these individuals, including many in the news media, see what is so plainly obvious to me?

I find I am not worried about Trump becoming President, not at this point.  I am, however, worried that he won’t be defeated by historic percentages.  A reasonably close race that doesn’t result in a major turnover of legislators will be a victory for insanity, regardless of having the first woman in the White House. 

There is a desperate need for new perspectives on how Americans can and should relate to one another. If there wasn’t Donald Trump would not have gotten further than his hotel escalator.

What can I do? Well…here’s my vow:  I’m not going to cower when confronted with blind stupidity or lemming-like rhetoric.  The choice is going to be between Trump and Hillary, and I believe picking Hillary is as excellent as choosing Trump is nuts.

Hillary Clinton has been vilified by Conservatives, primarily white men, for two decades.  What Barack Obama has had to face for 8 years, she has experienced, at varying levels, for 22.  Like Obama, whose main fault for Conservative men was his race, Clinton’s primary drawback is her gender. It is a fear that the America of the “Greatest Generation” of white men is being replaced by people that don’t look like them. They find threats and conspiracies around every corner.

Radio talk show hosts and Republican politicians alike have found profit in using and encouraging this fear for their own benefit.  Not a single politician fits the Republican Party they have crafted better than Donald Trump. It is contemptuous that they should be surprised by his success.

Still, good people I know who cannot tolerate Trump will tell me that Hillary is dishonest. They don’t know why they think she is, but they do. They have unwittingly sipped the Kool-Aid. When pressed they’ll reference the slams du’jour, computer servers and Benghazi. 

Pointing out that her attempt to secure her own email was a common practice (used by Republican princes such as Colin Powell) or that neither she nor anyone else in the Obama Administration had any role in conspiring to create or cover up the Benghazi attack (as confirmed by endless investigations) only results in an abrupt end to the discussion.

I won’t be deterred.

I’ll admit that I am bias to the notion that having a female President is an important, historic milestone for this Country.  I’ll also admit that the 22 year role Hillary Clinton has played in national politics feels tiresome to me.  I don’t even like the name Hillary.

That said, she is the only one I can conceive of her gender who can move this Country away from the bigotry and wealth concentration that Trump represents.  She has the potential to do what Bernie can only talk about.

My opinion of Hillary was crystallized on October 22^nd of last year.  I started watching the Congressional Benghazi 3^rd degree of Hillary that morning.  I watched 3 hours of grilling into the early afternoon and, even though I was impressed with her abilities to take on the litany of absurd attacks, I’d had enough. Later, after an early dinner, I turned on the news to see how the event went and was blown away to find that it was still in progress. I turned C-Span back on and watch for another 3 hours till it ended.

She handled aggressive, combative congressmen with intelligence and poise.  She took for 11 hours what Trump couldn’t do for 30 minutes.   If she can run her campaign with the same firm resolve, absent of political doublespeak, hyperbole and emotion, then I think she will get her overwhelming victory, which will be a victory for us all.

Then perhaps we can sit back and watch her appoint Barack Obama to the Supreme Court.