Monday, September 12, 2016

A Bad Round Four

This year’s Presidential contest is a bout to determine who is the weakest candidate ever nominated by a major party. I had been thinking that Trump had this title sewed up.  He’s an obvious sociopath, running a racist campaign in an era where the white male vote is no longer dominant. He does have strong appeal to lugs who want an autocrat, an elected male dictator to rule, but they are a minority. They rooted for Sonny Liston. 

The problem is that voters do not like or trust Hillary Clinton. I don’t trust her because of her history as a centrist trimmer, but that’s not why most voters don’t trust her. In this election she's pretending to be a progressive, and that’s good enough for many, particularly for women my age. For them Hillary is a civil rights issue. They want to see a woman champ before they die. And note that Hillary is more truthful than most political figures. By those low standards, she’s not a liar. Hillary’s problem is that she’s always hiding something. She omits things. She dances around. She hid what must have been her rage at her husband’s inability to keep his pants on. She’s been hiding ever since. This week she hid the fact that she has pneumonia. That gives Trump a chance to land a big punch.

Voters don’t trust hiders. Hillary may turn out to be the weakest candidate in American history. But she can still turn this wretched incident around. She can stage a comeback. She can say, “I was sick, but now I’m well.” 

Voters like candidates who get up off the canvas and take it to the opponent. 

No comments: