More and more I hear those who are increasingly frustrated with this presidential campaign say with a weary sigh, “Well, at least it will all be over soon.” But it’s said with a kind of resignation, not relief.
In a different time and a more perfect world, the election would represent the end of the campaign. A winner and a loser. One individual taking the reins in hopes of pulling the country back together and the other accepting defeat with grace and the satisfaction of a race well run.
That’s not going to happen this time. Technically the campaigns may end on November 8th, but far too much acrimony has been generated for there to be a resolution.
One reason is that we have two deeply flawed candidates, causing us to wonder whether Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are truly the best the American political system has to offer. Some of the more passionate Clinton supporters cannot fathom a President Trump, while some in the Trump camp are rooted in the “anybody but Clinton” movement.
Another reason for our discontent is the nature of the campaign in its final weeks. We’ve devolved into sordid allegations against Trump and a video tape from 11 years ago that reveals boorish bragging that, if true, constitutes sexual assault.
Hillary Clinton’s depravity is her quest for power. For the Clintons, the truth is always malleable, subject to parsing depending upon the immediate need and the audience. The most recent WikiLeaks confirm what we already know—candidate Clinton has one message behind closed doors and quite another in public.
Part of Trump’s appeal is based on the thought that the system is broken, that a ruling class of elites—the Clintons among them—have corrupted the fundamental values of our democracy. I get that many Americans believe Washington has lost touch with America; it’s a legitimate complaint. However, Trump posits the solution in apocalyptic terms.
In one speech last week he called the election a “moment of reckoning as a society and as a civilization itself.” In a speech on the same day, First Lady Michelle Obama viciously attacked Trump. “This is not normal,” she said. “This is not politics as usual. This is disgraceful, it is intolerable.”
Dan Balz, writing in the Washington Post, said. “If the two speeches changed few minds—and there probably aren’t that many left to change—they were an indication of how charged the final days of this campaign are likely to be, and suggest that the conflict will not end with the declaration of a winner after Nov. 8.”
That will be the greatest tragedy of this campaign. America, thanks to the fundamental principles of freedom, liberty and the rule of law, always has the ability to course correct, to right the ship even after the most violent storms.
It doesn’t feel that way right now. This Election Day will be less about a course correction and reunification and more about how the process failed one side or the other, and the losing side will be angrier than ever.