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The
single truth emerging from our latest endeavor to elect POTUS is that everybody
got it wrong Considerable pundit and funder support went to Jeb Bush who was
considered the best bet to defeat Hillary Clinton. Jeb cratered along with the
hopes and millions of dollars in investment of his Super PAC (Political Action
Committee) supporters, or rather gamblers.
Looking backward, Jeb mounted a campaign
his father and brother were proud to endorse. Problem is, Jeb failed miserably
to capture the prevailing climate of opinion. Americans are angry, frustrated
and fed up with our politicians in both houses and in the Oval Office. We are
not yet revolution minded, but if nothing is done, there could be a spot of
bother.
We
now know that anyone associated with the political establishment has a poor
chance at best of winning mass support. Hillary who was up until a few months
ago a shoe in for the Democratic Party nomination and the Presidency, is
struggling for the former and is highly unlikely to achieve the latter.
A 74
year old Jewish socialist named Bernie Sanders ripped into Hillary on almost
every front leaving here clinging to the black vote at best. Owing to the was
the deck is stacked in favor of establishment politicians in the Democratic
Party, Hillary is picking up electoral votes at many times the rate as Bernie
even though she is behind in the popular vote of states that already held their
primaries and caucuses.
The great surprise here is that a person like Bernie
could have made such a huge dent in Hillary's popularity. The speculation is
that almost any mainstream Republican could defeat her in a national election.
As
for The Donald, he is the new political idol of the mindless masses. He is
attracting support on both the left and the right and loudly avows that
by financing his own campaign through his enormous personal wealth, he is
indebted to no one, to no PAC or group of lobbyists.
His outlandish and
outspoken proclamations empower the people like no other candidate can. He is a
bully who may well be handed the bully pulpit as a reward for crass, crude,
knee-jerk and untutored statements. As such, he is as accurate a reflection of
the man in the street as one could find.
The
Pundits and professionals alike are now talking of Trump as a political force
in himself that needs to be reconciled with sensitive and pressing foreign and
domestic issues. It is clear that the Republican powers that be are now putting
their full support on Marco Rubio as the only remaining candidate who, albeit
poorly, reflects establishment aspirations and who has the potential to both
defeat Trump and win against Hillary. This is a big gamble as Rubio still ranks
only third behind Trump and Ted Cruz in the latest polls. It is unlikely that
Cruz will endure as he is too far to the right. More importantly, his
supporters are more likely to convert to Trump than Rubio should Cruz drop out
or fail. Tangentially, it is not easy for a second generation Cuban immigrant
to capture the imagination of the American public and both Cruz and Rubio are
just that
As
you might rightly opine, there is many a slip between cup and lip and we all
know the fat lady has yet to sing. Moreover, the experts have been embarrassingly
wrong so far and are now a bit gun shy about making strong predictions Yet, the
media goes on, and on ad nauseam spouting their nonsensical guesswork to the
point of extreme boredom.
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