Alas Politics!

The Potpourri of modern politics takes one’s breath away. Just think of it! A business executive without any government experience, no public policy credentials, no foreign affairs involvement, and very little diplomatic skills being considered for the presidency. Stunning.

Pitted against such a candidate is a woman – the very first woman to run for President if she gets the party’s nomination – who was an 8-year First Lady, and effective attorney, a governor’s First Lady, a US Senator, a 5-year Secretary of State, and a builder of women’s leadership skills on a global basis. A leader. An academic. A doer and a person of public accomplishment. She understands government and its workings. She also understands public policy.

Also pitted against these two candidates is a 74 year old independent US Senator who has attached himself to a political party in name only so he can run in its primaries. An independent party run is out of the question; it is too difficult and has no solid precedence of success. So, he carves out his place in the campaign insulting everyone and everything. His brashness gets attention of young people and their support. He champions them for himself and alienates them from the other two candidates. He has effectively built a wedge campaign against the other two making this a three person race.

But the system will support only two candidates. So although the third candidate will lose the party nomination (Bernie), he will have effectively damaged the other candidate's vote gathering due to party alienation politics. Hillary will lose her natural advantage against Trump.

Now Trump. Think on this a bit. His brashness and independence got him his raucous following. Those followers do not respect anyone else, that’s part of why they are raucous and independent and supporters of Trump. They see in Trump a model of success that is an allure to them.  I think I understand that, but I also understand that their take on this is a serious delusion.

Consider these facts: Trump is not a self made anything. He started life in a wealthy family and was kick started in his career with $1 million from his father. He toyed with this money and managed to lose some and earn yet more. Eventually he was able to leverage his money and family reputation into one or two small scale real estate developments. Upon those successes he pyramided more developments and managed to amass assets in high numbers.

Trouble is – those high asset numbers were mostly offset by debt loads that acquired them in the first place. This is what is meant by leverage. And Trump got good at it. He took risks with other people’s money, decidedly not his own, sort of like what politicians do with public funds. And he proposes to do the same if elected president.

Along the way Trump lost developments. Outright failures. He was bankrupted by them. But wait! He didn’t lose much of his own funds, but he did lose other people’s money at risk in the development deals. Yes, he bankrupted at least four major projects losing hundreds of millions of dollars. Of other people’s money.

Did the projects that succeeded work out? For the most part yes. But then, let’s examine what that means.  New jobs were created as the projects were under construction. These are temporary jobs in the main. Not permanent jobs. The latter jobs are middle to low paying hourly jobs. Very few management jobs or technical jobs were created by Trump. He didn’t manufacture anything, and he didn’t even use much union labor. He avoided those expenses by hiring immigrants, illegal immigrants, and temporary low-skilled workers. Those jobs disappeared when the projects were finished or went bankrupt. Those workers gained little or nothing. They even lost some of their wages and a lot of their benefits if these were even provided for!

So Trump’s claim that he is a successful businessman is a fable. And whatever success he has garnered has been mostly for himself. Very few others have benefited from his career.

Let’s also examine his scurrilous attack on Bill Clinton's shenanigans. Bill toyed with other women and got caught. He owned up and settled down to save his marriage, and a very successful one at that. In contrast, Trump has been married at least 4 times (maybe 5?) and each ended in his philandering and playing house with an assortment of bimbos – some of whom he actually married. And then divorced. I’m not getting the idea that Mr. Trump respects women very much. Likes them a lot, evidently, but not respectful. You can do the analysis on your own. It is not difficult at all.

Bill Clinton in time will receive history’s credit for being a very effective President via his incredible ability to assemble and recall facts and keep focus on strategic goals of high value. Then he compromised through the halls of congress and won bill after bill until his public policies amassed to phenomenal value. That’s the kind of man Bill is and Trump is not.

And what Bill is does not reflect poorly on Hillary. If anything she gains respect for surviving some very tough times while in the White House and coming out an effective world leader in spite of it all. Maybe because of it?  It toughened her and she remains a woman of remarkable ability and talent. And a sense of humor and humanity.

Comparing Trump and Hillary is like no comparison at all. I’d much rather have Hillary in the White House and in the West Wing as President than despoil its rich history with a person of Trump’s ilk.

Oh Please America! Do not shatter my esteem for the highest position in our land! Do not despoil this with trumped down values. Please!

Get it right and get with Hillary!

May 30, 2016