Trump vs. Clinton: History In The Unmaking?

Official portrait of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Donald Trump enters the Oscar De LA Renta Fashion Show, New York. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Serenaded by the female-empowering pop hits "Brave", "Roar" and "Fight Song", Hillary Clinton took her place as the Democrats' choice to succeed President Barack Obama Thursday night in Philadelphia.  It was a moment most of us thought would never happen in our lifetimes--a woman nominated for President by a major party.  Then again, that's the same thing we thought when Obama broke the race barrier eight years earlier.

Clinton's otherwise riveting acceptance speech was a mixed bag.  It was one part greatest hits compilation of her stump speeches, one part new material, one part acknowledging the contributions of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and his supporters in the campaign, and a generous helping of Republican nominee Donald Trump-bashing.  Yet the speech didn't knock the ball out of the park.  It was more like an inside-the-park home run.  Something's missing here, and we can't quite put our finger on it. 

Otherwise, the Sanders contingent was heard from, even though their candidate had already conceded to Clinton and encouraged his followers to support her in November.  But they just wouldn't let go, wearing yellow at the coronation and heckling Clinton.  If Sanders had stuck to being an independent and ran as a third-party candidate, Clinton would have been in real trouble.

The hacked e-mails that cost Florida congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz her job as Democratic party chair, detailing some biases against the Sanders campaign, are being investigated by the FBI for a possible Russian connection.  Trump, as usual, found a way to exploit the situation by calling on the Russians to please pass along any of Clinton's e-mails when she was Secretary of State.  The next day, after the predictable uproar he created, Trump tried to get out of it by claiming he was being sarcastic when he said that.

Unfortunately for Trump, most Americans don't seem to understand what sarcasm is.  They're not even sure if he's kidding about some of the outrageous things he's said during the campaign.  Unless you're a late night talk show host, it's not smart for any candidate during an election year to make light of a serious issue.  But Trump, who has yet to learn how to act like a real politician, will get a free pass from the media because of his entertainment value.

So here it is, America.  For the next 100 days, you have to make a choice between two of the most unlikable candidates in modern presidential election history.  One is an independently wealthy man  with no political experience, and for whom there is no filter between his brain and his mouth.  The other is a woman who has been in public life for decades, is married to a former President, and now wants the job herself.  But she leaves behind a trail of scandal and questionable judgment that would have done in any other political figure, yet has somehow survived them all.

Donald Trump vs. Hillary Clinton.  Be brave, America. 

Democrats In Disarray In Philly

English: Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Congressman from Florida's 20th congressional district (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The bell has rung on the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.  Hillary Clinton is set to make history in a city full of it, becoming the first woman to accept a major party's nomination for President.

But first, the former First Lady, Senator and Secretary of State has some fires to put out.

• Even though Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont has endorsed Clinton, it's still going to take some work to convince his supporters to go along.  Sanders won almost as many states in the primaries and caucuses as Clinton did, but it also seemed as if the deck was stacked against him.  Well, Sanders won a belated victory when Florida congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned as chair of the Democratic National Committee.  Leaked e-mails (courtesy of Wikileaks) detailed how the party screwed Sanders and favored Clinton, which was long suspected anyhow.  The DNC blames the leaks on Russia, believing that its president Vladimir Putin and Republican nominee Donald Trump are best buds and want to steer the election his way.  Wasserman Schultz, meanwhile, has landed on her feet with a major role in the Clinton campaign.
• Clinton also has to overcome GOP and conservative skeptics who thought she got away with it when it came to those classified e-mails and what really happened at Benghazi--neither of which she was guilty of anything incriminating.  Look no further than the Republican convention delegates chanting "lock her up".
• Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia is Clinton's vice presidential pick.  He's moved up the political food chain having first been mayor of Richmond, then serving as governor of Virginia and currently its U.S. Senator.  Kaine sounds like a nice, enthusiastic guy who agrees with most (if not all) of  Clinton's positions.  But he's considered a safe pick, just like Trump's choice of Indiana governor Mike Pence.  Some pundits and progressives thought Clinton could have done much better with Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, or even with Sanders.

Most of all Clinton, with an unfavorable rating second only to Trump's, has to prove to the delegates and the voters on Thursday that she isn't in this just to chase history.  She needs to make the case  that, unlike Trump in Cleveland last week, America is not headed for an apocalypse and that better days are ahead.  Good luck with that.

The last time the Democrats convened in Philadelphia was in 1948.  That was the year TV carried extensive coverage of both parties' conventions for the first time.  Hubert Humphrey, then the mayor of Minneapolis, made his landmark civil rights speech.  Southern Democrats walked out of the convention because of the party's reversal on the segregation issue.  And President Harry Truman won the nomination despite negative numbers that rivaled Clinton.

Maybe Hillary Clinton and Harry Truman have something in common.

Chaos In Cleveland

speaking at CPAC in Washington D.C. on February 10, 2011. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: Melania Trump at the QVC Red Carpet Style Party, Four Seasons Hotel, Los Angeles, CA on February 25, 2011 - Photo by Glenn Francis of www.PacificProDigital.com (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Donald Trump accepted the nomination of the Republican Party as their presidential standard-bearer in Cleveland Thursday night, ranting and raving for more than an hour about being the 'law and order' candidate (insert cha-chung here), how he'd shake up the establishment in Washington, keeping immigrants from crossing the border, and other utterances of bluster that got him where he is today.

The Republican National Convention was not your usual choreographed snoozefest, not with The Donald involved.  Who needs to see protesters marching peacefully while being confined to one space blocks from Quicken Loans Arena, when we could watch delegates inside the hall snipe at each other as a political party comes apart at the seams?

• Senator Ted Cruz of Texas did himself no favors by getting booed off the stage for refusing to endorse Trump.  Whether it was because he thought Trump insulted members of his family during the primaries, or he's just positioning himself for a 2020 run,  Cruz showed what kind of man he was.  Oh, and the moment Trump walked into the arena near the end of Cruz' speech?  Pure political theater.
• Melania Trump's introduction to the public was marred by her lifting parts of Michelle Obama's 2008 speech during her own nationally-televised valentine to her husband.  It wasn't entirely Melania's fault.  Blame it on lazy speechwriting, which a Trump staffer all but admitted to.
• Democratic nominee-to-be Hillary Clinton's name was mentioned almost as much as Trump's or 'USA! USA!'.  Unfortunately for Clinton, it's in reference to the FBI declining to prosecute her for sending classified documents through her private e-mail server, for which the GOP delegates would rather string her up and throw her in prison.  "Lock Her Up", rather than "Make America Great Again", seems to be the theme of this convention.

Now that the chaos in Cleveland is over, it's the Democrats' turn in Philadelphia.  Unless Bernie Sanders and his fans can make things interesting, Clinton should enjoy a relatively peaceful and orderly week before making history of her own.  Right?

Downbeat In Cleveland

English: Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OH Français : Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OH (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The gavel just fell on the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, and the mood is anything but jovial.  Another terrorist attack in France, a failed military coup in Turkey, and another ambush on police officers in Louisiana will do that to just about any occasion.

Actually, the mood was set long ago when Donald Trump accumulated enough delegates to win the GOP nomination, and will claim his prize Thursday in a speech that should break all records for TV ratings.

Trump's unconventional approach to campaigning (so to speak)--lots of name calling, insults and stream of consciousness chatter about the issues--have alienated so many big-name Republicans that they've chosen to sit this convention out.  Only the delegates who are committed to other candidates are forced to sit inside Quicken Loans Arena, enduring all the pro-Trump speakers (mostly entertainers, athletes and Trump family members) and his fans wearing "Make America Great Again" hats.  Oh, they tried to force the convention to amend the rules so that Trump couldn't win on the first ballot.  But no dice.

Trump's choice to be his straight man/stooge (also known as Vice President) is Governor Mike Pence of Indiana.  Pence is more conservative than Trump on some issues, having previously backed Senator Ted Cruz of Texas.  The governor once signed a "religious freedom" law limiting gay and lesbian rights in the Hoosier State, until backlash from corporations and sports leagues forced him to retreat. He's also the Koch brothers' boy.  But the more we see Trump cutting off Pence in interviews and joint appearances, the more the presumptive nominee thinks he doesn't need a running mate.  That he did it only for Constitutional purposes.

Whatever happens in the next four days at the Cavaliers' basketball arena will determine how far the Republican party has sunk in its efforts to get behind Donald Trump.  It's up to him to convince the delegates--and the people watching at home--that the city of Cleveland didn't make another mistake by the lake.

Wendell Anderson (1933-2016): Governor of "The Good Life"

English: Wendell Anderson (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Wendell Anderson, who died at 83 this past weekend, was already well known before he entered state politics.  He played hockey for the University of Minnesota, then played on the United States team that won the silver medal at the 1956 Olympic Winter Games in Italy.

After more than a decade of service in the Legislature, Anderson was elected Governor of Minnesota as a Democrat (known here as the Democratic Farmer Labor Party) in 1970.  Once in office, he was responsible for creating an agenda of reforms in school financing, property and state taxes and the environment that became known as the "Minnesota Miracle".  Those improvements got him a Time magazine cover story in 1973, the one where he held up a fish besides the title "The Good Life in Minnesota".  That turned out to be the high point of Anderson's political career.

Then Senator Walter Mondale became President Jimmy Carter's vice president in 1976.  That gave Anderson the idea of resigning as governor, then having his successor Rudy Perpich appoint him to Mondale's old seat, which is what happened.

That power play (and not the hockey kind) resulted in the Independent-Republican (the name the state GOP chose at the time to distance themselves from the Watergate-era national party) sweep of all three major state offices in the 1978 election.  Anderson was defeated by plywood magnate Rudy Boschwitz for his Senate seat.  Dave Durenberger won the other seat from businessman Bob Short.  And Al Quie took over the governor's chair from Perpich.

Then Anderson settled into a relatively quiet life away from politics, which included stints as a University of Minnesota regent and as a political analyst for KSTP-TV.

Wendell Anderson was a popular governor for his time, but remains a cautionary tale of what happens when politicians take their popularity one step too far.

America in Black and Blue

The United States celebrated its 240th birthday recently with fireworks, Pentagon-sponsored salutes to the troops at Major League Baseball games, and heightened security at public venues prompted by terrorist attacks in Orlando and Istanbul.  Land of the free, home of the secure.

Then the real fireworks began.

• In Baton Rouge, Louisiana and near St. Paul, Minnesota, police officers shot and killed two African-American men who they say were allegedly packing concealed weapons.  The Louisiana man was apparently doing nothing more than selling CDs out of his car, as far as we know.  The Minnesota man and his girlfriend were stopped by police for having a broken tail light.  The rest of what happened, from the girlfriend's perspective, was shown live on the internet.
• In Dallas, Texas, during an otherwise peaceful demonstration to protest the shootings in Louisiana and Minnesota, five police officers were shot down by a man who supposedly said he wanted to kill as many white people as possible.  The suspect, who used to serve his military time in Afghanistan, got killed himself by way of a 'robot bomb'  that was used in the war.
• According to CNN, more than 300 people were arrested during a weekend of demonstrations across the country.  They took place on city streets, freeways, in front of the state governor's residences, etc.  Not all of them were peaceful, with some of the participants ending up in the hospital.

This is all part of the long-running saga that's been going on since the murder of Trayvon Martin and the disturbances in Ferguson, Missouri:  Misguided police officers who target African-Americans for even the most minor offenses.  No matter how much of a model citizen you are, if you take one step out of line, you're dead.  Or get sent to prison if you're lucky.

Not all police officers are trigger-happy racists, but there are enough of them to make everyone uncomfortable no matter who they are.  And using military-style weapons on Main Street, especially tanks and 'robot bombs', is not a good look.  This isn't Kandahar or Baghdad.

Just as law enforcement expects us to follow the rules put down by society, we expect them to treat everyone with the respect and dignity we deserve.  Having said that, how can they respect us if they know they're not going to be prosecuted for some of the reprehensible things that they do?

In 2016, we don't need al-Qaeda or the Islamic State to come over and kill Americans.  We can handle that job ourselves, thank you very much.  Every mass shooting, every racially motivated murder-by-cop, and every dollar sent to the National Rifle Association to make sure that Congress keeps the Second Amendment intact just adds to the perception that we never really left the Wild West.

As long as guns--its misuse by criminals and authority figures and racism remain facts of life, the potential for catastrophe remains high.  We need a real solution, and no more wasting time on prayers, flags at half staff, moments of silence and expressing condolences.  What's it going to take?

Happy birthday, America.  How many more?

Leaving Lake Wobegon

English: Mr. Garrison Keillor (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In 1978, yours truly was a student at Normandale Community College outside the Twin Cities.  On a soft spring Saturday evening, I was among those who sat on the lawn next to the Fine Arts building, witnessing the live radio broadcast of "A Prairie Home Companion", presided over by a man named Garrison Keillor.

I don't remember much about that show, except for the music playing and Keillor musing about a place somewhere in Minnesota called Lake Wobegon.  When the broadcast was over, we went inside to watch the school's production of (don't quote me) "Our Town".

In 2016, on another soft summer Saturday evening during the Fourth of July weekend, I listened to Keillor host his final broadcast of APHC on the radio.  It was recorded the previous evening at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, which is as far from Lake Wobegon as you could get.  After more than 40 years on the air, the program had attracted a worldwide following and became distributor American Public Media's meal ticket.

The show itself was not much different from the 1978 version, with its mix of music and comedy sketches.  At times, it sounded like an unofficial Democratic Party fundraiser with plugs for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.  There was even a separate segment where Keillor was chatting by phone with President Barack Obama.  I can understand why some folks are turned off by Keillor and the show, particularly those who don't share his political views, making fun of religion in his monologues, or saying other things that make them want to rescind their contributions to their local public radio station.

"A Prairie Home Companion" is not going off the air.  It will be a much different show come the fall with new host Chris Thile, and a music-intensive format designed to appeal not only to younger listeners but also to those who have been waiting for Keillor to retire for years.  Obviously, Thile and the new show will have a lot to live up to.

Keillor isn't going away, either.  Now 73, his plans are to executive-produce the new APHC, do some concerts, write a syndicated political column, and work on a screenplay for a film about Lake Wobegon.  Only where's he going to find someone like Robert Altman (now deceased), who directed the movie based on APHC?

It has been 38 years since that broadcast at Normandale.  Since then I have read some of his books, listened to the program off and on, and subscribed to the "News From Lake Wobegon" podcast.  As a native Minnesotan, I find Keillor's material to be amusing, charming and a bit risque, as he couldn't wait to get his naughty side on.  But nobody should mistake Minnesotans for being the stuffed shirts we're usually made out to be.  After all, we like to get our naughty sides on too.

So say goodbye to Lake Wobegon, Powdermilk Biscuits, Our Lady of Perpetual Responsibility, Ralph's Pretty Good Grocery, the Chatterbox Cafe, and all the other things that this town so much a part of Myth America--like Mayberry, North Carolina ("The Andy Griffith Show") and Cicely, Alaska ("Northern Exposure").  No matter how much we want to visit those idyllic places, they're really just a state of mind.  Just like Garrison Keillor's, though he's been kind enough to share his with us for four decades.

UPDATE (11/30/17):  Apparently, Keillor's naughty side has gotten the best of him.  He's become the latest high profile white male, besides Matt Lauer, to lose his job and livelihood to a woman who claimed she was touched inappropriately.  Minnesota Public Radio has cut all ties with Keillor because of that.  They will no longer air reruns of APHC, syndicate "The Writer's Almanac", or have anything else to do with him.   Thile's show is getting a new name, since Keillor owns the APHC copyright.  It also wouldn't be a surprise if he lost his syndicated newspaper column, having written a defense of Senator Al Franken's problems of a similar nature.  Such a sad and surprising fall.  Keillor's become just another guy who couldn't keep his hands to himself.