NOVEMBER 8, 2016 PART 1:
“WHAT IF” HILLARY HAD WON LIKE SHE SHOULD HAVE?
First, the good news:
— Donald Trump would not be President.
— First woman President. After electing Barack Obama, America demonstrates that it will continue to embrace diversity and greater gender equality by electing the first ever woman President.
— The Supreme Court has a 5–4 Liberal majority for the first time since the very early 1970’s. That, in itself, should have been reason for Democrats/Liberals to turnout in record numbers. If only.
— The “McConnell Gambit” would have failed. Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Senate Majority Leader, blocked dozens of Obama’s judicial nominations and, most importantly, his Supreme Court nomination on the slim hope that a Republican would win the November 2016 election. If Hillary had won, McConnell’s gambit would have failed and eventually he would have had to allow at least some of Hillary’s judicial nominations.
Sen. Mitch McConnell R-KY
— The Paris Climate Change Agreement, environmental regulations against polluters and offshore drilling protections would all still be in full effect. The official position of the Federal Government would be that Climate Change is serious business and a threat to our National Security, not a Hoax.
— Millions of law abiding undocumented immigrants would be living, working and paying taxes in this country without fear of arrest and deportation. However, with a Republican controlled Congress, no headway would be made toward a comprehensive immigration policy.
— There would be a sane and sensible Attorney General who would reinforce Justice Department decrees against police departments that had abused power and used illegal and discriminatory tactics. There were be no waste-of-time threats and intimidations against states with legal recreational marijuana programs.
— America would remain a world leader thru the Paris accords, NATO, Southeast Asia and in democratic loving countries all over the world. Russia would have suffered intensive sanctions and suffered possible retaliation for its interference in our election.
— Congressional investigations into Russian meddling and conspiracy to collude with the Trump campaign would be moving forward a bit more rapidly. Clinton would have insisted on an aggressive, all-out effort to protect the security of American elections from cyberattacks and infiltrations.
— — Tensions between the U.S. and North Korea would probably not be quite as intense as they are today. There is a much higher probability that Clinton would have had capable State Department negotiators taking a much more active role to try to diffuse the situation.
— The Affordable Care Act health care system would have been improved and expanded as much as a Republican Congress would have permitted. But we would not be dealing with the losses of health care for millions of Americans.
— Taxes for corporations and the wealthiest Americans would not have been slashed at the expense of the other 98%. And the economy would have been just fine.
Now for the bad news about a Hillary Clinton Presidency:
— With a Republican controlled Congress, much of Hillary’s agenda would have been stymied. On most issues we would be suffering through a similar kind of gridlock that we had under Obama.
— Republicans would have been relentless in their ongoing pursuit of finding Hillary Clinton guilty of something, no matter how trivial. Congressional inquiries of the Clinton email controversy, the Clinton Foundation, the Uranium One deal, hell, probably Bill Clinton’s infidelities would have continued endlessly. How they would ended is anyone’s guess. Ironically, Congress today is investigating some of those red herrings anyway.
— A Clinton Presidency would have further incensed Republicans and they would have pilloried Clinton at every step. The resulting chaos would make the Democrats more susceptible to mid-term (2018) defeats, allowing Congressional Republicans more power to block the Clinton agenda and possibly even impeach her. If still President in 2020, and if she sought a second term, winning would have been very difficult. Clinton would likely have been a one-term President and Republicans may have recaptured the White House in 2020.
In sum, a Clinton victory in 2016 would not have brought about an atmosphere of change in America politics. A reason in fact why many independents and Republicans voted against her. But sometimes “change” isn’t always all it’s cracked up to be — especially if it’s change directed by a madman. I never understood why in 2016 so many Americans were eager to vote for change. After all, under Democratic leadership, America had recovered from the Great Recession of 2008; job growth had been steadily increasing, the housing market was coming back, the stock market was back above pre-Recession levels, more Americans had health care than ever before, gasoline prices were low, taxes had been raised slightly on wealthy individuals with no ill effects. America’s recovery from the Great Recession was more robust than any other economically advanced democracy. Why then was such radical Trump-style change so attractive?
The American political attention-span is dangerously short. How quickly Republicans, independents and some Democrats forgot how god-awful things were under the Dubya Bush administration. We were attacked on 9/11, started 2 failed wars, we tortured and illegally renditioned POW’s, we dismally failed to help the people of Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina and the economy collapsed all in 8 short years. And for his achievements? Uhhhh………. No Child Left Behind? Good Job Brownie? I’m the Decider? And it wasn’t just Bush. He had a Republican led Congress that aided and abetted his failures.
But just 8 years later, after things were starting to turn around, 61 million voters thought it was a great idea to elect a Republican majority again! This time, led not by a simple minded, ne’er-do-well who had failed at most things in life; but by a scoundrel, a charlatan, a snake-oil salesman, a narcissistic thug, a pussy — grabber, a money-launderer, a conspiracy theorist who was simultaneously mentally deranged!
America did not need this kind of change. But there may be a silver lining to all the ensuing chaos and tumult. Nov. 8 2016 was a day of great surprises and shocks but there are reasons why Democrats, Liberals, Independents and other clear-thinking Americans can have hope for our future; and may even see a day when, in the longer run, Hillary’s defeat was perhaps the best outcome.
Coming soon on this blog: “Nov. 8 2016 Part 2: Little Donnie’s Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.”
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