In a
Presidential Election year, there is one day bigger than all other days.
Election Day. As days go, it is the ultimate arbiter in determining who won, who
lost, and by how much. Countless micro-statistics will emerge from tens of
thousands of tabulators across the country.
Yesterday
was not that day. It was, however, huge. A number of the day’s key events
fundamentally shaped, altered or completely re-defined the tone and tenor of
how the next 125 days, or until the votes are counted on Tuesday evening,
November 8, 2016, will unfold.
To summarize
briefly, the day included:
1 A statement in an unannounced news
conference from FBI Director James Comey, regarding the Clinton e-mail scandal
2 The kickoff of the joint appearance
phase of the Democratic Campaign, featuring Hillary Clinton and President Obama
at a Clinton rally in Charlotte, NC
3 In a turnabout from the 2014-midterm
elections, Democrats from across the state, including the Gubernatorial
Candidate, the Lt. Governor candidate, the U.S. Senate candidate, the U.S.
House of Representatives candidate, and the State Secretary of Labor candidate,
were all in the building. In 2014, Democrats from across the spectrum,
nationwide, fled the President like the plague. While he was polling anemically
at the time, it is worth noting, he had already won two national elections.
Most of the folks who fled President Obama lost anyway. Who knows? Perhaps he
could have helped them.
4 A trump Rally in Raleigh, NC,
undoubtedly designed to offset the planned Clinton rally in Charlotte, and
serendipitously timed to enable The Donald to slam the decision by the FBI not
to recommend pressing charges against Clinton.
5 In light of item number 3, above, it is
worth noting that Republican Senator Richard Burr and GOP Governor Pat McCrory
both found reasons to be out-of-State during Mr. Trump’s rally in the State
Capital. It also warrants mentioning that Senator Burr, as I have noted in
another blog post, is currently planning to skip the Convention in Cleveland.
6 The much less publicized, but no less
critical reaction that one CNN news story entitled “Sanders supporters meltdown
over FBI’s Clinton decision”
Last
weekend, Secretary Clinton spent 3 and half hours of a holiday (4th
of July) weekend cloistered with the FBI, answering questions about her e-mail
server(s). This “voluntary” interview, and it was voluntary; Clinton had
actually been requesting it for at least a year, followed by several days an
unscheduled, and by most accounts, faux pas of an encounter between Attorney
General Loretta Lynch and former President Bill Clinton, potential first, First
Dude, on The AG’s plane. Reportedly, Mr. Clinton’s plane was located near Ms.
Lynch’s plane on the Tarmac.
Said meeting
was purported to have lasted about half hour or so. Not surprisingly, the
Republican Party in general, and the Trump Campaign in particular, raised holy
heck about the two meeting. It was perceived as highly suspect by virtually all
of Mrs. Clinton’s opponents, and certainly regrettable by many of her
supporters. The furor that arose following the “chance” encounter prompted AG
Lynch to hold a press conference during which she pledged to follow the recommendations
of the FBI and federal prosecutors. At that time she indicated she’d made the
decision months ago to take this action. That is altogether possible, but the
timing, following so closely her meeting with Mr. Clinton gave Trump and the
GOP solid fodder for several news cycles.
After
Clinton’s FBI interview Saturday morning, it was generally expected that the
Bureau would tale a week or two to mull over the interview before responding.
To that end, Tuesday’s response was a surprisingly quick turnaround. And
regardless of which side you were on, Director Comey’s announcement had
something for you.
First and
foremost, the BFD (see Joe Biden on Obamacare); Comey declined to recommend
charges against Secretary Clinton. This really was the total obliteration of
the elephant in the room. With one fowl swoop, Mr. Comey said, ”No charges are
appropriate in this case,” and simultaneously cleared the deck for the Clinton
campaign to complete the process of wrapping up the Democratic nomination in
Philadelphia, and took the last breath of oxygen from the Sanders campaign. The
acronym BFD is apt here, and by no means hype or overstatement.
Alternately,
the Director, whom hard core Democrats know is not only a registered Republican
(W Bush’s AG), but also active to the extent that he contributed to the McCain
and Romney campaigns in '08, '12, respectively, disputed many of the assertions
previously made by the secretary. In broad strokes, during his 14-minute
report, he said:
• The Clinton State Department was extremely
careless in handling emails
• Mrs. Clinton did share at least 115
emails deemed classified/8 deemed top secret
• Security culture at the State
Department was lacking
• Hostile actors gained access to the
email of others with whom Clinton communicated
• Evidence of violations was found
• He found no evidence of intent to share
classified or top secret information
• He found no evidence of intent of
disloyalty to the U.S.
At least 5
of those bullets will serve to ensure that this conversation lives throughout
the election process. Trump/GOP talking points are in the bank.
In yesterday
afternoon’s Clinton rally, which I had the opportunity to attend, the
President, turned campaigner-in-chief, and candidate Clinton, worked a raucous
crowd at the Charlotte Convention Center. The pair formed a 1-2 punch that
excoriated Trump’s ideas, more than the candidate himself. The wall, belittling
other races and ethnic groups, banning Muslims, etc., are all ideas that drive
a wedge between people rather than bring them together. But beyond the absence
of substance from Mr. Trump, the President noted that Mrs. Clinton’s experience
is the preeminent super qualifier. In fact, he said, she is the most qualified
man or woman to ever seek the office of President of the United States.
For her
part, Hillary praised the President for rescuing the nation from a second Great
Depression. She asserted that her job, as his successor, would be to secure the
change that he facilitated and to take us further in areas of clean energy,
continuing to de-nuclearize the world, raise the minimum wage, implement
debt-free college, and free community college, and provide a plan to pay for it
all, among other things.
Anyone who
has ever attended a venue in which the President is featured knows that going
to see the President requires a commitment. Folks lined up in advance, stood in
the heat waiting for the doors to open, waited for hours once inside, all to
see and hear the two candidates whom they so greatly respect and admire. It was
not at all surprising that many replied in classic black church
call-and-response style, “Preach,” when President Obama said he knew he was
preaching to the choir.
In current
polling, President Obama has a 50% approval rating on average, which is near
historic for a President approaching the end of his second term. The obvious
offshoot of that turn of events is that the chickens, in this case scared
Democrats; came home to roost. As noted in the third enumerated item above, a
plethora of democrats showed up for Mrs. Clinton’s rally. And make no mistake
about it, although it was Clinton’s rally, and she paid for the Air Force One
flight to Charlotte, the PA Announcer introduced Barack Obama, President of the
United States, when the pair came out of the tunnel, they stood behind the Seal
of the President of the United States, and he was the keynote speaker, the last
to take the podium. It had to be special to return to the City in which he was
bestowed the nomination in 2012, in the state he turned blue in 2008, and boost
the candidacy of the last person he vanquished in his initial run, also in
2008. It was a good day and a great event for her; it was an outstanding day
for him.
Last night
the scene shifted to Raleigh, the State's (North Carolina) Capital. Trump was Trump.
He spoke for over an hour (66 minutes) and his bombast was aimed at crooked
Hillary, clueless Obama, and a host of rigged systems, including the economic
system (people have dropped out of the search for employment and are not
counted in determining unemployment rates), the political system (Louisiana was
stolen from him, even though he got the most votes, and the system is rigged,
even though he won…go figure), and the justice system (how could Hillary not be
indicted). He emphasized that Clinton put the safety of the entire country at
risk; he noted in particular that her judgment is horrible.
Mr. Trump
has had a fairly uneven ride on his way to nailing down the nomination. Despite
having amassed the number of delegates necessary to secure the nomination, a
many Republicans have been reticent to endorse him, more than a few have said
they will not vote for him, some even saying they will vote for the Democrat,
one is suing to be released from voting for him at the Convention, and at least
one, George Will, left the Party, because of Trump. Given that well-documented
unevenness, it is no surprise there were prominent no-shows last night in
Raleigh. Senator Richard Burr said he needed to be in Washington. Campaign
spokesperson Jesse Hunt framed it thusly:
• “After multiple terror attacks
associated with the Islamic State this week, Senator Burr is attending to his
duties in Washington as Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman.”
In a fluke
of nature, Governor McCrory was also unavailable. His spokesman, Ricky Diaz
said:
• “The governor’s office said yesterday
that he will be heading out-of-state today for a long-scheduled trip with the
First Lady, so he’s unable to attend tonight’s event with Mr. Trump.”
If anybody
can relate to that cold shoulder Mr. Trump was feeling on a warm summer evening
in North Carolina, I’m sure it’s President Obama. Of course, I don’t imagine
Mr. Trump will be reaching out to the guy he doesn’t even believe is an
American (but does think is a Muslim), anyway.
And then
there is Bernie Sanders; perhaps more aptly, there are his supporters. Director
Comey’s announcement seemed to have made for one last twist of the dagger for
some of the Senator’s most loyal supporters. Among them, there is a vocal
minority who hoped, even advocated for a Clinton indictment, which in turn
could catapult Senator Sanders back into the nomination conversation. This
eternal spring of human breast hope exists, despite a strong indication that if
Hillary had been thwarted, Vice President Biden would quite possibly have been
inserted as the nominee. But I digress.
The
so-called bitter-enders, folks aligned in both the Sanders and Trump camps,
pointed to yesterday’s pending decision as the “FBI Convention.” Oh well, it’s
fair to say, in retrospect, that dog didn’t hunt. When Comey made the
announcement, there was a social media eruption. The tart responses included
the following tweets:
The #SystemIsRigged indeed. So disgusted. #Demexit
#Dexit
#BernieOrBust #OurRevolution #NotMeUs
#UpToUs
#TimeIsNow
We're in
trouble.
Today marks
a turning point. We now have unequivocal proof of how bad things are. It can
only serve to strengthen our resolve
Just fire
them all and get rid of the @FBI. They don't uphold laws and have proven
to waste taxpayer funds.
We keep
asking how many mistakes can one candidate for #POTUS
claim before it's too many. #ClintonEmails #Comey
#MadamMistakes
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Where FBI
Director Comey openly said if it was anybody other than Hillary, they'd have
serious consequences.
• RETWEETS 1,972
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• 12:49 PM - 5 Jul 2016
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the Democratic Party is dead to you
I guess if
you are rich and have political power like @HillaryClinton
not even the FBI can touch you #BernieOrBust #StillSanders
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If you're an
uber rich old white lady -u can break the law, help rig a primary, trade gvmnt
favors for $ & never face consequences.Yay Comey
There has
been a fair amount of discourse regarding whether Sanders' supporters as a
collective, will join Team Hillary for the closing thrust of the campaign, as
Hillary's supporters did with Team Obama in 2008. Senator Sanders has
said he is going to the Convention and endeavor to alter the platform. He
has also said he will do everything in his power to defeat Donald Trump.
However, he has said, and many of his supporters parrot, that it is up to
Hillary to make the changes (essentially adopting his positions) to persuade
his supporters to join her. In a quirk of contemporary politics, the system
is deemed rigged by some Sanders supporters because the Campaign with the most
votes has not fallen on its sword and conceded to the Campaign that competed
admirably...but finished with fewer votes. It's a bit of a head
scratcher, but we'll soon see how that works. The Convention kicks off
July 25th.
There have
been a lot of hugely important days in the 2016 Campaign. There are sure to be
more. But when all things are considered, few have been or are likely to be
more important that yesterday; at least not until November 8th. So I
stand by my initial premise; yesterday was the…”Biggest Day of Election 2016…So Far!”
I’m done; holla
back!
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