IT’S CONVENTION TIME: TIME TO START MISSING THE CURRENT ADMINISTRATION

…Here’s a president with an approval rating of over 50%

 

Based on what the President inherited from George W. Bush, Obama will go down in history as a very successful president.

 

Someone has recently written that Mr. Calvin Marshall Trillin, the American journalist, humorist, poet and novelist is also “the Mark Twain of our times”.  He was called that because Trillin once wrote that “Sooner or later, when I am anticipating a new potential executive administration, I immediately starts missing the current one.”

 

Apparently, many Americans today, when looking at the two candidates from the Republicans and the Democrats, they are also starting to already miss the current president.  That’s because neither of these individuals has the political instincts that currently reside with President Obama.

 

Neither Trump nor Hillary can give an Obama speech as appropriately as the current president.  At this time, because of all the negatives against both of the candidates, neither can come close to speaking for the whole nation.  Obama currently has a positive approval rating above 50%, of which both presidential candidates would almost kill for that kind of approval.

 

The speech that Obama gave at the Dallas memorial could not have been delivered by either of the candidates because he gave that speech speaking as a black man.  Neither of the latest candidates have ever experienced the racial experience that the president has had in his earlier life.  Yes, for the anxiety experience that he has felt as only a black man can, when they have been pulled over by a white traffic cop, that is a very personal experience.

 

And neither one of the candidates has as yet shown the extremely measured judgment that Obama has shown in the days of the political strife and anxiety of his two terms in office.

 

Yes, neither Trump nor Clinton could have used the same words that the president has used in his speeches.  However, neither of the two’s speaking styles, hers being a combination of semi-yelling and sometimes a squeaking type of speech, while Trump thrusts himself into his trails of lies and untruths, while never apologizing for them, nor even admitting to them.  But neither of these two have the grace, the seriousness, nor the presidential delivery of an Obama delivered speech.

 

Just look at the way Trump dealt with the Dallas event. He immediately put himself up as the champion of all white American.  Then he criticized the president for having a press conference after the killing of the three officers in Baton Rouge as he Tweeted:  “President Obama just had a news conference, but he doesn’t have a clue. Our country is a divided crime scene, and it will only get worse!”

 

Of course, as usual, Trump didn’t offer any idea of what the president “should have done”, just his usual criticism and blow-hard “Tweets”.

 

Earlier, Trump had tweeted , “We are TRYING to fight ISIS, and now our own people are killing our police. Our country is divided and out of control. The world is watching.” And still earlier, he had demanded that the United States declare war on the Islamic State and repeated his now modified ban on Muslims. He did not go as far as Newt Gingrich, who had suggested that all Muslims who believe in Sharia law be deported. But if you combine the essential Gingrich with the essential Trump, you would then probably get “the waterboarding of recalcitrant Muslims who refuse to reveal their religious beliefs”.

 

Trump’s juvenile attitude is in stark contrast to Obama’s always measured words. But both Trump and Clinton stand in contrast to the president’s strong moral principles of honesty and decency.

 

Despite the GOP efforts to defile him, Obama’s administration has been shockingly free of scandal. The president has conducted himself with dignity, and even his two daughters have refrained from the usual antics of White House kids. You would think that certain commentators, always focused on the dignity in the Oval Office, would swoon for Obama and revile Trump, but that is not the case.  Unfortunately, the current conservative ideology is a totally blinding event, even if it’s coming from a ridiculous individual such as Donald Trump.

 

Don’t get me wrong though, Obama has made some very big mistakes in his 7½ years in the White House, especially regarding foreign affairs.

 

Obama has totally botched dealing with the Middle East with his backing down on the Syrian red-line issue, which was totally catastrophic.  In addition, why he normalized relations with Cuba without insisting for Cuba to free their political prisoners and for some level of democracy in the country is quite confusing.

 

When he then pivoted to Asia, he started leting China do what it wants in the South China Sea, and then he reset relations with Russia.  But then Vladimir Putin seized Crimea and invaded the Ukraine. The president may do even more damage if he resets the deal with the Baltics, as is expected next.

 

In addition, I do not understand why he early on squandered the opportunity to fund the massive infrastructure program that this nation sorely needs.  This would have created and repaired the bridges, roads and airports and would provided lots of good-paying jobs as well.

 

Obamacare remains his major domestic achievement, but if it is not fixed, it will require substantial premium hikes which will occur right before the election. If Clinton wins, she will then have to deal with and answer for that.

 

Even with all this, based on what Obama inherited in 2008, Obama will probably go down in history as a very successful president.

 

But it is true that Clinton does lack the political gifts that a president needs, and it is simply tragic that Trump’s gifts are only used to advance dark and deranged causes.

 

But whether we like it or not, this will be the basis of our future.

 

So, as Mr. Trillin has said, with 4 more campaign months before the election, it is never too soon to start “missing the current administration”.

 

Copyright G.Ater  2016