It's finally over.
All without shouting, vote counting, finger pointing, legal wrangling, possible coup d'etat and attempted overthrow – again – of our 248 year old democratic republic.
But all that is in the future.
It is possible.
In the meantime, let's celebrate the end of the most worrisome, fractious and family-divisive presidential election of modern times, as it explodes on the line and crumples into a noisy heap.
Columnists Mark Z. Barabak and Anita Chabria take a look back at the tumultuous path to this day and offer insights into what lies ahead.
Barabak: There are very few things I can say with certainty. But I can say without a doubt that many people – save members of Masochists Anonymous – are happy that this campaign was carried out with mercy. No?
Chabria: I feel like it's the morning after a Vegas wedding and we've tied the knot — we don't know who. As happy as I am that we've finally made it to voting day, I feel obligated to curb any complacency out there as it's clear that we still have a long way to go before we all agree on a winner.
The votes will likely be challenged – sometimes favorably and sometimes unfavorably – for weeks, if not months, to come.
But here's some good news: We're in a free and fair election system, supporting a democracy that's been struggling at times over the past few years. So that sums it up.
Are you feeling optimistic about anything at this time?
Barabak: Not, as you suggested, that in the end we will agree on a winner. There are still an alarming number of deluded and misguided people out there who believe that Trump won in 2020.
Including the denier in chief sitting on the GOP ticket.
That said, I love election day.
After all the speeches and mail letters, all the TV commercials, debates, town halls, prime-time interviews, impromptu statements and quick clarifications, it's finally the voter's turn to have their say. Hokey as it sounds, we are reminded on this one day that the power in our political system ultimately lies in the people and the emotions they express at the ballot box.
I don't make predictions; I'm smart enough to know what I don't know, which is a lot. And I'm not in the habit of endorsing candidates. But I have made it clear in columns over the past few years that I think our president should be someone who does not try to overturn a legitimate election, talk about suspending the Constitution, threaten to use the military against his political opponents, engage in oral sex at a political rally and has not done and said a lot of bad and strange things in the last ten years. all over the internet if i go on.
If I'm hopeful about anything, it's that the majority of Americans will feel that things in this country have worked, if far, far enough since its inception that maybe we shouldn't give up our values and our basic principles just because. eggs and gas cost more than they did when the economy was devastated by the pandemic four years ago.
Let me pull out a well-worn phrase that we hear almost every election, how this is so important in our lives. In this case, it is true.
Chabria: I'm with you on all of that. I also like election day. Because, yes, it comes down to the people and, despite Donald Trump's obvious attempts to subvert that, our will still stands.
Where I differ from you is that I am happy to announce loudly and proudly that I am 100% pro-Harris. I actually don't have a party preference – that may surprise some (the very interesting few who regularly read our Politico newspaper).
But at heart I am a policy expert. I've written in favor of Republican legislation in the House when I think it's good, and I've knocked Sacramento Democrats when they do dumb things, which is often.
But, like many, I don't see this presidential election as being about Democrat or Republican. There are important values on the line, even beyond democracy – women's rights, civil rights, immigrant safety.
I'm bringing it up because if Harris doesn't win, people need to continue this fight to push back against democracy, even a dictatorial president in the White House. Trump may be calling this election the last battle, but it's not.
Barabak: You are right.
Now if I may, I would like to briefly acknowledge and praise our current president – remember that guy? – Joe Biden.
He vowed to be a one-term president, a “bridge” to a “new generation of leaders,” as he put it during his 2020 campaign. Then he scaled that bridge and decided, at age 81, to look for another. term.
Things were going well during his candidacy until Biden's disastrous debate in June, which caused great confusion in the Democratic Alliance and led to his tragic departure from the ticket and the support of Harris.
Reportedly, Biden still thinks he could have beaten Trump, making him one of the few people in the world to hold that misconception.
But give credit where credit is due. Biden spent decades of his life chasing and persevering for the presidency and when he finally achieved his dream, he showed that he is good at the job. It turns out that there is something to be said for all that is happening in Washington, especially when it comes to Congress. He has achieved more legislatively than many thought, given the slim margins the Democrats held in the House and Senate, and he has overseen an economy that, asides, is the envy of the world.
No wonder Biden wanted and felt he deserved a second term.
Still, he left – albeit only after a healthy shove. It's rare for someone to willingly give up power the way Biden did. If Harris wins, his act of self-sacrifice will be an admirable part of the president's legacy. If he loses, the knives come out with criticism that Biden has selfishly wasted his time in office and denied his party the chance to run in the first election among a new field of candidates.
Chabria: Biden has definitely earned a place in the history books – in a good way – for having the courage and dedication to the country's plans to step down.
I'll give another shout out – and maybe one of those oh-so-iffy predictions – to the women of America. From early voting, we know that women voters turn out in droves. Some of that may be the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision that ended women's reproductive rights, but I think it goes beyond that.
We have seen vicious attacks on women's rights and their place in public life, with some on the right suggesting that women should not have the right to vote. So my prediction is that if Harris wins, it will be because women – Republican, Democrat, Christian, Black, white, brown, you name it – decided they were, to steal his slogan, not going back.
Barabak: Would that not be a poem. Eventually, it will turn out that you can't catch them … well, you know, and get away with it.
One last thing. I said I don't predict. I learned a lesson in 2016, when it turned out that everything I thought I knew about politics was wrong.
But I will try this: No one knows what will happen on this election day or who will win. But for the next four years, until the next presidential campaign, and forever after, people will never stop explaining how the result was as clear as daylight.
Don't buy it.
Source link
