Politics

美国政治的王牌

Sep 11, 2015 Elizabeth Drew

华盛顿—民主党和共产党正在进行漫长的党内遴选程序，以选出明年总统大选的候选人。两党面临相同的问题。目前主导竞争的反现状——甚至反政治——情绪会不会继续下去？

至少这一回，劳动节（9月的第一个星期一）不再是总统竞争的分界点：总主题早已定下。今年夏天，对政府和传统政客的深恶痛绝像龙卷风一样席卷整个总统竞争，一些曾被视为资深竞争者的选战一败涂地。

当然，共和党有这种情绪并不令人奇怪，因为该党日益右倾，并且一直反对总统奥巴马。但共和党推出了一位富有的“大嘴巴”加入战团，他抨击传统政客是“蠢货”，并称他单枪匹马就可以解决战斗。

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0 Comments on this paragraph, 14 Comments on this article

joey jay Mar 13, 2016

Oh come off it. Trump is the best thing USA has received in a long time. He has demonstrated that politicians are bought, that the war in Iraq was wrong, that the system is broken. As a black american, democrats and GOPs before has done "nothing", absolutely "nothing for the lower economic class and have destroyed the middle class.
No matter what you write about, it is all fraud, lies and more deception.
Grow up. Sanders is my man!
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Jack Schmidt Sep 14, 2015

Eight years ago Lee Iacocca explained it: "I almost got into politics... They sent in a brash young guy named James Carville to explain things to me... He shoved some papers at me. 'Here is your position on abortion,' he said. 'Here is your position on jobs. Here is your position on...' Finally I interrupted. 'Don't I get to--' 'No, no,' he dismissed me, 'we've already done all the studies and focus groups.' ... I told him where he could shove it."
- Walter Gingery Sep 15, 2015
  
  Don't laugh. Iacocca's fantasy was, of course, that he had the right to the political party's support, both organizational and monetary, without compromising his positions in the slightest.
  
  In other words, in the typical fashion of the corporate executive, "I don't care what other people want. I already know what's best. I'll give the orders."
  
  Increasingly, the danger to American politics is from people like Iacocca and Trump, who use social media to short-circuit party control and mediation.
  
  I'm afraid that the mediators between Americans and demagogues are getting ever less effective, until at some time in the not too distant future, they disappear completely, and we find ourselves living in a Chavez/Venezuela or Putin/Russia.
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Walter Gingery Sep 13, 2015

We're still a long way from November, 2016, so it's well to keep in mind that the successful candidate will have to win a majority of the votes on that day.

To do that, s/he will first have to win a party's nomination. This means s/he will have to gain the allegiance of more than one political grouping.

On the right, there are at least three: (1) the managerial/financial elite, (2) the libertarians, and (3) evangelicals. Trump will have to gain the support of at least two in order to win the nomination. Stay tuned. . .
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William Pu Sep 13, 2015

The rich get richer, poor poorer, cannot go on forever. Sooner or later this phenomenon will snap. Our younger generations are better informed. The internet travels, literally, at the speed of light. Career politicians take notice - lying is not acceptable.
Why do people think Trump is not electable? My understanding is that he who garners the most votes wins - it is called democracy. No?
As to Hillary, the email issue is not her biggest problem. Her personality is. Would you buy a car from a salesman you don't like? There was no email issue eight years ago and she lost to a black man!!!!! I am not a right-winger bashing the left. From my perspective, the left has all but left America.
In America "socialism" is generally considered bad. Which is not totally true. "Socialism" is bad when it's applied to the poor, applying to the rich just don't call it "socialism". The big banks get zero interest rate from the Fed. What's your interest rate on your mortgage? Car loan?
I see the Trump/Sanders phenomenon as a watershed moment in America - the voters are wising up - it's about time!
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Ralph Benner Sep 13, 2015

Can’t remember the last time a blowhard opinionator-entertainer as presidential candidate received so much mindless coverage by the press. Does it have anything to do with the media owned and controlled by the 1%? Trying to make sense of the current Trumping, Elizabeth says he’s causing “conniptions,” but the GOPers won’t complain too much if he’s the nominee who stays true to his claim that he’ll pick up his own tab. (Choke.) As for Hillary’s email, what did she do wrong? Not allow the snoops to hack her every chance they could? She went “private” without Obama’s okay? He, sappy gaffe-laden Biden and all the rest of the White House inner circle are suspiciously quiet about le scandale de faux. The obviousness the critics are conveniently avoiding is that no one trusts the government’s ability to protect from hackers. Note that Elizabeth doesn’t permit her email address to be openly published. She’s got the right to protect her privacy, but less so for a Secretary of State who’s the enemy’s prime target? And because multiple hypocritical standards are at work against her, she’d be pilloried if she did what Biden worked up at Colbert’s behest. Among many, there’s one specific, even compassionate, reason not to want her the nominee: if she won the presidency, it would guarantee the GOP would provide a repeat performance of the 90s. Voters are likely to step in and spare her and, of course, the rest of us.
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hari naidu Sep 13, 2015

Not too long ago, Trump was declared bankrupt in NY with his real estate empire in dissolution. But he survived & now a billionaire to boot.

In Europe, on the other hand, bankruptcy makes a professional political life more or less extinct....as a matter of fact.

What's going on inside GOP is fundamentally self-destruction.
Donald *Duck* Trump may upset GOP establishment and, in the process, make HRC an inevitable winner - unless she falters dismally. Demographics will ultimately ensure (may be) Dems race to victory....

The real issue is global political image of American electoral contest & its ideological cum fraudulent accesses, as if the rest of the world didn't matter.

And Trump's entertainment value is the ultimate expression of American (WASP) Exceptionalism - decline and fall of America is moving in right direction.
- Alisdair Hamilton-Wilkes Sep 14, 2015
  
  Too true. Trump was bailed out by several times his father, who had huge holdings of rent controlled apartments across NY. An unexciting business with no glitz but very high occupancy and cash flow.
  
  I agree on the other points too, the narrower the electorate the less relevant the whole race and government becomes to the world. Though he won't win either the nomination or the presidency in my opinion.
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j. von Hettlingen Sep 12, 2015

Elizabeth Drew has all reasons to lament the "trumping of American politics", as it is witnessing an "anti-establishment - even anti-political" mood on the two sides of the aisle. Both Democratic and Republican primary voters have rejected veteran politicians in favour of outsiders. She asks whether this trend will last into the 2016 presidential race. Every four years Labor Day in the United States makes the moment when campaigns become real and serious.
This year may mark a political milestone when Donald Trump threw his hat into the ring. The "laws of political gravity" don't seem to apply to this Republican frontrunner. He is as much an entertainment as a juggernaut - spanning supremacists and Reagan Democrats and establishes himself as the epitome of a successful WASP. Remarks that would end most political careers have only helped him in the polls as he has careened from one blunder to another in the past few months. The paradox is that he can't be discounted.
On the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders, the left-wing challenger to Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination, is known for his progressive political agenda, and an advocate of expanding social benefits and raising the minimum wage. Recent polls put him ahead of Clinton in New Hampshire, and in Iowa. Sofar he seems to be popular in liberal enclaves and college towns, where liberals yearn for someone who is not Clinton. His supporters are not representative of the mainstream of US politics - or even the mainstream of the Democratic Party. Clinton's weakness has given Joe Biden an opportunity to enter the race if he so wishes, and she is still the favourite to be her party’s standard-bearer in November 2016. Yet it is by no means a foregone conclusion.
If "serious commentators have begun speculating that Americans will ultimately be asked to choose between Sanders and Trump", this would no doubt make the campaign of other candidates obsolete. History shows that early polling is not very predictive, especially polling more than a year out. Despite the polls, Trump's chances of snagging the nomination are quite slim. He will not have the support he needs from the GOP to win the Republican nomination. Besides the smart money is stacked against him, which would provide a breathing space for candidates like Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, Carly Fiorina, Rand Paul, Scott Walker, and Marco Rubio etc. As for Sanders, experts warn his success may be limited, as he has a small budget.
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Robbie Jena Sep 12, 2015

I hope this process does not bloom the flower of CHAOS....as the bud is in it now.

"Civilization begins with order, grows with liberty and dies with chaos." - Will Durant
- Robbie Jena Sep 12, 2015
  
  Just watched the movie The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)...sounds familiar...no human looking Aliens but we are getting to the same place now .......
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Michael Public Sep 11, 2015

I sense a rebellious mood on both sides of the fence. But what is it exactly that is causing this? It is frustration, frustration that whole political process is one of 'frustrating the opponent and holding onto power for its own sake' and not one of standing for anything (much). If I was American I would normally lean Democrat, but this time round I would go with Trump simply because he stands for SOMETHING.
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Petey Bee Sep 11, 2015

If the mainstream candidates had something of value to offer, I would normally suggest that they offer it at this time. Unfortunately nobody believes campaign promises any more. And that's a problem.

So I think for the generations of Americans alive today, the days of serious candidates have ended. Maybe someday, the main political parties will re-earn enough trust to deserve the attention they once got.

For now, we get the system they have left us.
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Curtis Carpenter Sep 11, 2015

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/sep/11/jeremy-corbyn-leader-uk-labour-party

More interesting, and even more dramatic without sinking into the ooze like "Survival, Republican Island" has.
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美国政治的王牌

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