Tomorrow my friend Kristen and I are live on Periscope at 9:00 a.m. (PST) with our second “Left Mom/Right Dad” weekly dialogue. It’s a weekly politics show we’re going to be doing until the election. As an aside, we didn’t have a name for our thing last week when I showed up to Kristen’s house. While I sat and offered a couple of really stupid ideas, she came up with “Left Mom/Right Dad.” I liked it. Especially because I get to be right.
Anyway…
Tonight is the Democratic debate. Martin O’Malley dropped out. So it’s Hilary against Bernie. Which do you prefer? Or, fellow Republicans, who do you hate more? A Clinton or a socialist?
Clinton’s plan for now, other than ducking the questions about her email debacle, is to position herself as one who “gets stuff done.” A pragmatist. She wants to paint Saunders as all talk. It’s a good strategy because Saunders is dang good at talking revolutionary talk.
Hilary is so boring. Nothing like Bill. As another aside, I’ve watched this gem of a moment in the his first campaign against
the first George Bush. First people, when you are on stage, never look at your watch. Especially if it’s in front of tens of millions of people. It makes it look like you want to leave. Second, well, just watch this if you never have. It’s the best theater around. Clinton’s capacity to connect with voters is something I’ve never seen before (Bill, not Hilary).
On the Republican side, I found the Iowa primary on Monday interesting because, leading in, Trump seemed invincible. For months. Dominating the polls. He talked winning. “We’re going to win.” “I’m dominating in the polls.”
“All those politicians are a bunch of losers.”
But he barely came in second. To Trump, that’s losing because winners come in first. Only first.
I’m not surprised by what happened in Iowa. Primary voters are a different breed. They, generally, care a lot about the process. There’s a world of difference between airing an opinion about The Donald, and coming home, eating dinner, driving to a local school, and voting for him.
Trump also underestimated the skillfulness of his opponents–all the other losers. These guys know their stuff. They’ve won heated elections before. Politics is art, not a reality TV show. Ted Cruz blanketed the state on his tour, pressing flesh, the old fashioned way. Trump used Twitter and arenas.
My gut is the Trump craze will soon run out of steam. Not because I think Trump is a racist and xenophobe, which I do. It’s because I believe that people are inherently good. Yep, good. Both progressives and conservatives yearn for something better for all humanity. They just disagree on how to get it done. Conservatives think everyone can do it alone; liberals think they needs more help from the government.
And Trump brings just too much fear and anger and chaos and negativity and I think people are starting to see all the drama. (Not that Cruz doesn’t.)
Hope to see you tomorrow live on Periscope, or here.