Donald & Hillary, Two Peas in a Pod

Finally, finally we’re into the final stages of this silly season, the final four months of this wild, wooly, weird political season. Barack Obama, like the rest of us, must be counting down the days until he can step away from these last eight years. His hair is a lot grayer now (Whose wouldn’t be?), but he’s still the charming, soft-spoken, erudite fellow we elected almost eight years ago. What has his administration managed to do despite eight years of obstructionist congressional voting? Well, he’s reduced the unemployment rate from about 15% to just over 5%. And there are those who argue that these are false percentages. Trump has often claimed that the present unemployment rate is closer to 42%, but that’s just Donald again overstating a position just as he too often overstates his position on nearly everything. No matter how the rate is figured, it’s considerably down from where it was in 2008. The national and world economies, which were then on the brink of financial disaster, have rebounded and now seem healthier than ever, like a bull market rushing through the streets of Pamplona. With the Affordable Care Act, signed into law in 2010, young people and low-income families now have, or can have, medical insurance. The republicans would dearly love to overturn this law, but what would they do to replace it? What has Obama failed to accomplish in his two terms? The U.S. infrastructure is about to collapse like a rusty bridge over the Mississippi. Racial tension in increasing instead of decreasing, although I’m not sure exactly whose fault that is. The war on terrorism remains almost a draw. The national debt continues to grow at an alarming rate. Where will the Obama presidency rank in history? The GOP ranks it as the worst. Only time will give us a more accurate assessment. I think it will be in the top five or six.

And here we are in Cleveland, listening to all the hyperbole prior to the announcement of Trump’s nomination, making him no longer presumptive but still very much presumptuous. And in another week we’ll hear the Democratic hyperbole about Hillary prior to her nomination. Then we’ll have a series of Trump/Clinton debates. It should be interesting (and enlightening) to see how Donald conducts himself when he’s teleprompterless and has to rely on his own words and ideas. Will he continue to attack with clumsy insults? Will he ever say anything of substance about how he’ll govern, should he (shudder shudder) somehow win in November? Or will he be seen as the Hindenburg he is, full of dangerously volatile gas that could blow up in his face at any second? Will Hillary be able to deflate this monumental ego? Will she tone down her shrill delivery that so alienates so many people? It might even be fitting if, in November, the two of them tie and have to share the presidency for four years. I realize that in our system ties are not allowed, but the mental image of them governing together,

with First Gentleman Bill and First Lady Melania flirting in the background, is just too rich to ignore. Come on, November. I can’t wait to see how this Comedy of Errors plays out.