C. Fraser Smith, BridgeTower Media Newswires
"Twenty four hours is a lifetime in politics"
- Anonymous
Those of us who hoped the great American experiment in democracy might continue had to be encouraged by the first presidential debate.
Hillary Clinton found an elegant way to illustrate Donald Trump's preposterous trespass, daring to offer himself as qualified.
Trump had suggested that debate prep is for losers. Clinton stood more than ready to puncture that idiocy.
"I think you have just accused me of preparing for this debate. I did prepare. I also prepared to be president of the United States," she said.
Did the Trump voters start to get it? There's still time for them. It's possible that some will be embarrassed to say they were misled. So there's plenty of reason to fear that magical thinking or unthinking will continue.
Clinton cannot say, "You're fired."
We have to fire him.
Trump's election would mean all bets are off. In that event, we would be fired. We would be firing ourselves. We'd be proving we had no interest in elections or in any of the things that our system demands of us.
To imagine that democracy is invulnerable would be a catastrophic mistake.
Looking back
Whistling past the graveyard may have momentary relief, but we ought to remember some of our recent history and laugh but, at the same time, think.
Adlai Stevenson after a speech was greeted by a well-wisher:
Governor Stevenson! Every thinking American is with you.
Stevenson: Thank you, madam, but it's not enough. I need a majority.
This year makes me think also of a Harry Truman story. A campaign aide called to alert him:
Better get over here. They're telling lies about you.
Truman replied: No, I have to stay here. They're telling the truth about me here.
Truman had to stay to explain why he did some unpopular thing or other. That was then, a healthier time.
I wish we had stories like that this year. Nobody's telling the truth unless you count Trump's discovery that Barack Obama was born in the U.S.. Of course, then we were right back where we started: Hillary was the original birther, he said.
We're in the hands of the philistines maybe we always were.
For a time, it looked like springtime for risking nuclear war. If we have nukes, Trump asks, why don't we use them? He apparently doesn't know the answer.
And then, getting back to the great experiment, here's one of the founders, Benjamin Franklin:
Mr. Franklin, what have you given us: a republic or a dictatorship?
Franklin: A Republic madam, if you can keep it.
If you can keep it.
That just about sums it up.
We could lose it. Have we forgotten?
What voters know
H.L. Mencken warned us. We will always be the change we want to see in the world.
But, Mencken said decades ago, many voters know almost nothing. Half of what they think they know is wrong. And they don't want to know anything.
In this year of anxiety we have seen the near-death of experience: Experience and knowing something are disqualifiers in Trump World. Trump is running close to Clinton, who has more experience probably than anyone whoever had the job.
Experience is not always judgment: e.g. her remarks about Trump's basket of "deplorables." Did anyone on her staff read this speech? What sort of staff does she have? We cover campaigns to see if the candidates can organize a team and operate it well.
Difficult as it may be to consider, think of Hillary as a green candidate, a candidate with none of the experience that comes from losing or working for name recognition. If you are not Irish with politics in your DNA you have to learn the game somewhere. You do or say something dumb, you pay for it. You don't do it again. Are you being politically correct, or do you want to win?
Her basket speech fed right into the negative Hillary narrative. She sneered at the deplorables. Whether they deserve the denigration or not is not the point.
We've seen the rebirth of the big lie as a campaign tactic, but with the twist of trying to have it both ways. Lying leads to confusion, because the liar backs away from the lie, hoping to keep a portion of those who agreed with the lie and some of those who do not. Extra bonus: Reporters race off to check, taking them out of the game and away from writing about what really matters.
But who will win? Polls and turnout are not the same thing. In a tight race the better organization wins. I think she does. It's a race between her get-out-the-vote apparatus and the passion of his side.
A final thought: Does Trump calling the election rigged help or hurt turn out for him? If it's rigged for her what's the point of turning out for him? If he wins, was it rigged?
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C. Fraser Smith is senior news analyst for WYPR. His email address is fsmith@wypr.org.
Published: Fri, Oct 07, 2016
