News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Fri. Nov. 11, 2016: Since this is the most important episode ever so far let me begin with this my Disclaimer:
1) I certainly did NOT vote for Donald Trump
2) I did vote for a woman for President and for the environment – Jill Stein.
3) Would I have voted for Clinton if NY was a battle ground state? Yes very unhappily.
Now exactly what happened Tuesday? Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton SCREWED America.
Put another way, the 5 biggest Con Artists in America are Barack and Michelle Obama, Hillary and Bill Clinton and Donald Trump and one of them just got elected President because of the other 4 of them.
Put another way, Obama and Clinton are responsible for electing Donald Trump by conspiring to prevent Bernie Sanders from gaining the Democratic nomination and EASILY defeating Trump on Tuesday, November 8, 2016.
Because Sanders represents the Democratic Party that most Democrats and Independents identify and Sanders represented real CHANGE – not the Democratic Party of the Elites represented by the Obamas’ and the Clintons.
Because Bernie Sanders represented CHANGE and Hillary Clinton – more of the same – the Queen of the Status Quo. And in his own weird way, Donald Trump represents CHANGE too – and so he won a Presidential election that should have heavily favored the Democratic candidate.
The point is change “trumps” the Status Quo when lots of voters are dissatisfied, no matter what that change may be. Ad we are seeing that proof immediately following the election. The fact is there is a kind of real “excitement” about Trump becoming President because it will be CHANGE.
Even the networks and other media that clearly favored Clinton are now finding it impossible NOT to get caught up in talking about CHANGE. Trump will bring change in style, change in policy, change in leadership and staff even IF they oppose the specifics of Donald Trump’s kind of change.
Had Hillary Clinton been elected Tuesday it would be so, so BORING today in the media and around the nation it would have been the ‘third term’ of Barack Obama. More of the same that would please! BORING!
As I write, there is all kind of interest about Trump visiting Obama Thursday. If it were Hillary Clinton instead it would be a non-event today.
The very real IRONY here is ….
Eight years ago there was the same kind of excitement Trump is experiencing following Election Day as Barack Obama did after election day 2008 and visiting The White House as President-Elect.
So in the Oval Office Thursday, in spite of their history of intense dislike for each other, they may be getting along very well having experienced the same kind of election victory representing “change” and running on an agenda of CHANGE.
Here is the difference right now …
We have the 8 year record of Barack Obama that real “change” was a mirage. It was a campaign theme to get elected. It was a Con Game. And that set the stage for HIS candidate Hillary Clinton to lose!
And that is a key reason HIS candidate Hillary Clinton lost! The only real change Barack Obama represented is that he is African-American and that turned out to mean nothing at all for the rest of us, least of all other African Americans. Just as if Hillary Clinton had become the first woman to be President, it would have just been more of the same another Democratic President taking care of the fellow Democratic Elites – White and Black.
Which brings me to Obama’s legacy that he wants to protect?
WHAT LEGACY BARACK?
If President Obama had been the Change Master he led us to believe he would have quite a legacy. Instead he has none other than maintaining the Status Quo and feeding the Democratic Elites very well indeed.
What’s that? Obamacare? Are you kidding. Obamacare is a key part of the Obama Con – a gift to the insurance industry and for the first time in American history, the govt. forced Americans to buy an overpriced for-profit product from insurance companies at inflated cost and absurd deductibles.
What else? Some decent environmental legislation! What Democratic President would not support the environment?
What else? How about over 95% of the increased income over the last 8 years going to the top 1%?; How about the fact that income gains for most citizens have been outpaced by every other advanced nations in recent years?; How about the U.S. still having more men and women in prison than any nation on Earth even after 8 years of President Obama;? Or one of the highest poverty rates; or one of the highest rates of infant mortality in the industrialized world? On and on and on …
Is all this part of the legacy Obama wants to protect?
Obama’s “legacy” is a key reason more Democrats, especially African Americans and younger voters and Independents did not come out to vote for Hillary Clinton and of course along with Hillary Clinton’s own fatal flaws. This allowed he election of Donald Trump by a sizable Electoral College advantage even though Trump is the scariest candidate to be elected in our lifetime.
So what is the good news?
The very good news is that the Democratic “ruling class,” the Insiders, the rich and powerful Democratic Party Elites – are finally discredited and while it is a big mistake to be sure they will not find ways to keep control – it is possible, very possible, the Democratic Party will fundamentally change and finally true Progressives will take control of the Democratic Party.
More good news for Progressive Democrats!
There is a very high probability President Donald Trump will fail to deliver real change unless it is horrendous change that destroys his Presidency. For starters, the kind of unrealistic muscular out dated views of American military prowess in a very complex global environment in which Trump offers simplistic solutions is either going to turn into a nightmare or more likely, Trump will deliver a very similar American foreign policy.
Here at home, any Supreme Court nominees Trump proposes are sure to be very poorly received by many Americans; likewise additional tax breaks for the wealthy that is part of his plan.
The same with trashing environmental rules and regulations. And will he have a better answer to the disastrous Obamacare? Will Trump go rough on immigrants as he says he will?
All of these are minefields for Trump. On the other hand we should not discount Trump again. No matter what he said during the campaign, he may prove smart and be a very different kind of Republican?
Then there is his signature issues – trade and jobs – that got him elected. If he is successful with these it will probably be enough, more than enough, to make him successful and buy him two terms as President. Except …
It is very, very doubtful Trump will be successful with either. It is so easy and tempting to talk about trashing existing trade deals as though the U.S. is the only party to them and he can impose his will on other countries with no consequences and certainly no comparable negative consequences for the U.S.
Believe new trade deals that give the United States a big advantage over the Chinese and everyone else when you see then and they work out well.
As for jobs, the TRUMP card of the new President …..
Jobs are disappearing and most of all good jobs even faster for a very revolutionary reason. there is no reason to think Donald Trump has a clue about and certainly NO solutions in his Republican tool case. Our entire society is entering a major new epoch of societal evolution like none that has taken place in many thousands of years or longer. The Age of Human Labor is disappearing giving way to advanced automation and robotics.
Good and secure jobs for most Americans are never coming back. It is an increasingly outdated concept. Just the opposite – they will be eliminated at an ever accelerating rate in the coming years and decades, not only here in America but everywhere else too. Even second and third world countries.
Here is the very good news for Progressive Democrats for 2020 and beyond.
We need a very new social compact for government to offer voters. There is no reason to believe Donald Trump or the Republicans generally will ever find any answers in their ideology. Nor will the discredited Democratic Party Elites who feed off of and have gotten fat and rich from the Status Quo.
Is this a detailed blueprint for Progressive Democrats to take control of our political future? No, but only Progressive Democrats have the wherewithal and the convictions and worldview to take this leadership role now.
Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton represent the Democratic Party’s past. Will Progressive Democrats seize the future in the coming days and years?
We are going to find out when Donald Trump becomes President.