That was quite a show the Democrats put on in Philadelphia last week. And it’s hard to imagine anything that better displays the differences between the Democratic and the Republican parties – and anything that better spells out the dangers Donald Trump presents.
All in all, it was an emotional, inspirational four days, highlighted by Khizr Khan’s powerful Trump take-down. Khan, a immigrant from Pakistan, defined the Republicans’ candidate – and laid out what America should be, and can be – in a way no one else could.
By the convention’s end, I was relaxing a little, easing back from the dread the Trump show had inspired:
The Clinton campaign has it under control. The America on display at the Democratic convention was the America that we know and want. Put all those folks on the road, air clips from their speeches for the next three months, and a Clinton landslide in November isn’t out of the question.
And yet… it’s too early to know whether the Democrats can persuade enough people to get Clinton elected. It’s too early to know whether they can convert Bernie Sanders’ unhappiest supporters. Too early to tell whether they can sway the anti-Clinton voters who plan to support Green Party candidate Jill Stein as a statement of principle. Maybe all of those people on the stage at the DNC convention were simply preaching to the choir, there and at home.
Let us hope not. Because Hillary Clinton is right: This is a moment of reckoning. Donald Trump is a dangerous person, and it would be a disaster, for this country and for the world, if he were elected.
That any of us are even worrying about that, and that Donald Trump has the support he has, is a sign of a problem that’s much deeper, and much more serious, than the flaws of this single candidate. We are a deeply divided nation. But for the country to succeed, and for the experiment of American democracy to succeed, it will take all of us, not just a bare majority of voters.
We have become a multi-cultural country. That is fact. Many Americans were not happy with what they saw at the Democratic Convention. Many of them wish we could be what they imagine we were decades ago. No political candidate or president can force them to change their mind.
We need a president who can educate us – educate all of us – help us begin to heal, help bring us together. Barack Obama hasn’t been able to do that. I don’t see how Clinton will be able to, either, given her abysmally low “trust” ratings.
Still, bringing us together will be a long-term effort; the country has a multitude of immediate challenges, domestic and foreign. Hillary Clinton is clearly qualified to be president. And she is the sole sensible alternative to Donald Trump: the “sane, competent” alternative, as Michael Bloomberg put it last Wednesday night.
It will take more than getting Clinton to the White House, though. She has to get things done. That means that she’ll have to have a cooperative Congress.
Journalists on last Thursday’s Diane Rehm show suggested that there’s a lot of support among Americans for ticket splitting – that people may be so appalled by Trump that they’ll vote for Clinton but because they don’t like her, they’ll vote for a Republican for Senate to keep her in check.
And the Republicans in Congress may be satisfied with that; too many of them have accepted the Trump take-over for us to think otherwise. They despise Clinton, but if they keep control of Congress, they can insure that she doesn’t accomplish much. They can ride out the next four years and run a better candidate against her in 2020.
If that’s the case, we’re facing a threat to the country’s future that is second only to that of a Trump presidency.
This article appears in Aug 3-9, 2016.
“We need a president who can educate us – educate all of us – help us begin to heal, help bring us together. Barack Obama hasn’t been able to do that. I don’t see how Clinton will be able to, either, given her abysmally low “trust” ratings.”
Right! We uneducated, hurt, ununified morons need a president whose moral character of lack of trustworthiness and honesty is not a criteria to lead our country and can teach us how to rig the system for our benefit,; like getting the non-biased media to untwist our words but twist the words of our opponents.
We need a president who will supports Black Lives Matter, by supporting mothers of black men who were killed by white police and not supporting or acknowledging the spouses and children of white police who were gunned down while doing their job of protecting us.
We need a president who will use one heart broken Pakistani father, who sadly lost his son, to guide our country; he “laid out what America should be, and can be – in a way no one else could.”
We need a president who will stifle the mother of a fallen American solder, who wanted questions answered about her son’s death; a president who will humiliate and dismiss a mother, call her crazy, and walk away.
We need a president who has faulty national security issues, who can be careless and allow her communications to be hacked foreign governments.
We need a president who wins her party’s nomination by suppressing and undermining her opponent , who was beloved by the people.
As you said, Obama did not unify our country and you know that Hillary Clinton is an extension of the Obama regime, how do you justify repeating the same mistake? Isn’t that called insanity?
I’ll take the risk on Donald Trump; in hope of real change, to end this disingenuously weak, divisive, yet oppressive administration and unify our country.( I mean weak to the world, yet divisive and oppressive to the country.)
Now if only the media would report and cover this election in an unbiased, non-partisan, untwisted manner, then the people will be better informed as to who will be the best president.
FYI- The new book by local author, David Cay Johnston, “The Making of Trump” just came out. It has climbed to #11 on Amazon, in just two days. Here is the D&C story:
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/…
There is no hope with Donald Trump. He is a zero (0) first of all because he has no experience in government. That is what scares me the most. Clinton has the experience and she can change her ways, if she wants to. Trump is Trump = zero
—-Hillary Clinton is clearly qualified to be president. And she is the sole sensible alternative to Donald Trump: the “sane, competent” alternative, as Michael Bloomberg put it last Wednesday night.—-
This statement is madness writ large.
Under Hillary’s watch (and with her support prior in the Senate) the US State Dept has executed one horrific act following another. Iraq, Honduras, Libya, Syria, Ukraine/Donbass. There is not a single policy success to speak of unless destroying national infrastructures and mass slaughter of civilians is now considered a success at the State Dept. These aren’t blunders, the outcomes of our actions in every one of these theaters was accurately predicted by intelligence white papers ahead of time. I do not comprehend the disconnect needed for any Progressive, Leftist, Centrist, Moderate to endorse Clinton for any job where she has the ability and personal authority to harm others.
As President I cannot imagine the bloodletting she might encourage, right up to a nuclear confrontation with the Russian Federation or China, on those nations very doorsteps, and for no compelling national security interest.
Trump may appear to be a complete menace, but Clinton has PROVEN herself to be one.
As far as “sane, competent” I’d think Jill Stein might be a far better fit than Clinton or Trump, one of which is entirely owned by Wall Street and the Defense industry, and the other hopelessly pandering to middle class disaffection with no real plan to make sweeping changes (though he at least supports a return to Glass-Steagle).
I’ll be voting for Stein and if that fails I’d consider Trump the better follow-up.
“We are a deeply divided nation” says Ms. Towler. And who’s doing the dividing? Who pits rich against poor? Men against women? White against black? Straight against gays? Citizens against immigrants? Whose is the party of “identity politics”? Whose is the party who welcomes anyone with a gripe? I couldn’t care less about someone’s economic status, gender, race, sexual proclivity or possession of a passport, green card, or license, if acquired legally. When a muslim loser kills 49 people in a night club or a muslim couple kills 14 office workers or 2 muslim brothers kill 3 spectators at a sporting event, I don’t care who the victims like to make love with or what gender they are. They are Americans. Your party, Ms. Towler is responsible for the division of this country.