Convention Contention

We’re done with the contentious conventions and can now get to the serious business between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, their battle plans and battles on the field of debate. Three long months of finger-shaking and mud-slinging. Let the games begin. I still can’t believe what the polls are showing, that they’re in nearly a dead heat. I still can’t believe there are really that many stupid, misguided people in our country, enough of them that could, if we’re not careful, elect Trump to be our next president. Both candidates have disapproval ratings among those polled, somewhere around 37% approval, 63% disapproval. But of the two, Clinton should be seen as less disapprovalable than Trump. Donald Trump is as close to unelectable as anyone in American political history. Benedict Arnold would have a better chance to win. Richard Nixon would have a better chance to win. Thankfully, these two wretches are dead. But Donald Trump, himself as wretched as either Arnold or Nixon, is still very much alive, physically and politically. And that scares the hell out of me. Can there really be enough stupid, misguided people who will go to the polls to elect him? I fervently hope not.

The DNC did its best to paint Hillary in favorable colors, but to the Bernie advocates and most Republicans, she’s still too much gray and black, too untrustworthy. Her acceptance speech was better than Trump’s, but then, a circus-trained chimpanzee might have delivered a better speech than Trump’s. Hillary’s speech was at least thirty minutes too long. A good speech should build to one major crescendo, not four or five minors. Would Maurice Ravel have considered several more repeated theme passages before bringing “Bolero” to its emotional close? Would Abraham Lincoln have elected to spend an hour or more to give tribute to the dead at Gettysburg? No and no. Wouldn’t it have been refreshing to hear Hillary Clinton spend no more than five minutes telling us how humble she feels, how honored she feels to have been chosen to run for the presidency of the United States?

During the DNC, probably my most memorable moment was when I was shown by one of the speakers the new sign for “togetherness”: fingers intertwined, arms extended, then a circular clockwise motion. I will remember that sign and use it in these next three months to greet friends and strangers. Maybe we can all come together next year after we elect one or the other. Maybe Donald, if he’s elected, will be able to state his political goals in a more comprehensible togetherness. Maybe Hillary, if she’s elected, will be able to win over those who hate her, and bring us all together for a peaceful, prosperous future.