The election,
marked by a most deplorable and frightening campaign, is but weeks away. Polls
suggest Hillary Clinton is likely to be our next president. If so, we will have collectively dodged a
catastrophic bullet. But let’s not start
raising our celebratory glasses. We should
have no illusions about what’s happened here. When it comes to the country’s future
direction, much remains unresolved. We
will be left with fundamental questions not to mention deep, still not fully
understood, scars. I for one draw a
direct line between Donald Trump and John McCain’s astounding selection of the
highly unqualified opportunist Sarah Palin as his running mate in 2008. His unforgivable folly almost immediately gave
way to the Tea Party and a total radicalization of the Republican party. Some might argue that it all began with the
so-called Reagan Revolution or even with Richard Nixon. Those roots are undeniable, but it really
wasn’t until eight years ago that things turned so absolutist partisan, or that
one could even imagine a Donald Trump leading a national ticket.
The election
notwithstanding, celebrations are unwarranted until we resolve what has been
set in such poisonous motion. So long as
we refuse to engage with each other, to find some common ground, we are likely
to see continued frustration and gridlock.
That is virtually guaranteed if the GOP retains control of Congress,
especially the Senate. In a time of
global flux, the increasing threat of still denied and not fully addressed
global warming and gaping economic disparity we will face continuing
danger. Nothing less than a total reboot
will do. That’s going to take both leadership
and our collective will. It won’t be
easy, most especially since we’ve gotten so accustomed to taking sides and self-righteously
proclaiming to always be in the right.
While we
have heard less talk of it this election cycle, conventional wisdom has long
held that there is some kind of predominate “middle” across the land. If so, it hasn’t shown its face in quite a
while. There certainly seem to be few if
any “middle” Republican office holders and, albeit perhaps less so, even among
Democrats. In fact, in this hyper-partisan
time those of us who are active or who follow politics closely often show
disdain for anyone who doesn’t hold absolute faith with either our liberal or
conservative ideology. Perhaps we are
becoming more secular, but this kind of attitude mirrors the religious fundamentalism
that claims for itself ownership of “the” truth. That doesn’t lead anywhere good in either
faith or politics.
Barack Obama
came into office facing an overflowing plate ¾ Iraq, Afghanistan and an
almost unprecedented excess driven recession.
Eight years later, despite considerable accomplishments, the Middle East
remains in conflict and the residual effects of the downturn continue to impact
on too many Americans. Our assumed “can
do” and “land of opportunity” ethos is in question and many citizens of all
political stripes are both frustrated and angry. The challenges facing a President Hillary Clinton
may be somewhat different, but they are no less daunting. In fact, I would argue that the state of our
national psyche is so fragile in that in some ways, they may be greater today. Given the limitations of any president to
bring about substantial change or progress, she will have to make hard choices
and set some priorities. Addressing our
challenges abroad and economic challenges at home are obviously on the to do
list, but bringing about a reboot may be equally or even more important.
Much
attention has been paid in recent weeks to the challenges facing the Republican
Party in the face of its 2016 fracturing.
But let’s not forget Democrats have their own challenges evidenced by a
very anemic 2016 presidential bench and the extraordinary response to
independent Bernie Sanders candidacy.
That he properly opted for unity and campaigned for Clinton does not
mean that what drove his insurgent campaign was not real or that what drove it will
have gone the morning after. Very many
of his followers were and are young and the future ¾ theirs and ours ¾ depends on them and
addressing their issues. There is good
reason that politicians have become suspect and business as usual has been so discredited
across party lines. The enthusiasm gap
of this election dare not be ignored nor can the very fact that one of the two
major parties could turn to such an extreme candidate. That’s not a GOP problem, it’s an American
problem. We should read it as an ominous
warning signal. All is not well and we
pretend that it is at our own great peril.
Is a
seasoned senior pol like Hillary the right person to address these issues, to
launch a credible reboot? That remains
to be seen of course, but she may turn out to be exactly the right agent. Who better to self-judge, to understand that
what we’ve been doing no longer works? A
Clinton led reboot could represent real reform, an affirmation that she is of
the future rather than the past. It
would give special meaning to signal that she is not just a second Clinton or
even Obama Administration, but one of the world that exists today and will be
with us moving forward. It’s a tall
order to not merely think “out-of-the-box” but to act out of it as well. She will be entering the presidency at a time
of a messy and often dysfunctional country and world.
Other
countries question whether our time of leadership is at an end and many at home
question what the nature of that leadership should be and where. Among the many complications, the UK with whom
we have always had that “special relationship” is in flux after the Brexit vote.
Israel our closest ally in the Near East
still has not been able to make the peace it needs for survival as a Jewish
state. Isis remains a threat to
stability complicating the neighborhood in which both Israelis and Palestinians
live. China is facing economic
challenges and Russia is aggressively trying to reassert itself. The list of challenges at home and abroad abound.
Where our desperately needed domestic reboot
fits into that puzzle remains the yet to be answered question. Other problems have a way of making their way
to the front of the line, but she shouldn’t let that happen. We need a reboot and we need it today not
tomorrow.
