Friday, March 18, 2016

Is Obama responsible for the Trump bandwagon?

Last Tuesday Donald Trump won in Florida, forcing Florida Senator, Marco Rubio to suspend his campaign,  Illinois, home state of Barack Obama, and North Carolina. He lost in Ohio and is ahead by less than 2000 votes in Missouri. He now has 673 delegates compared to 411 for Ted Cruz and 143 for John Kasich. If he wins Missouri he will pick up another 25 delegates while Cruz will get 5. Republican Party leaders would do anything to get rid of Trump because of risks to down-ballot contests for Republicans standing for the Senate and the House. Some think that he will destroy the conservative agenda built up since Ronald Reagan. There is a trend to the US presidency. The incumbent usually wins a second term but after 2 terms the vote swings to the other party. So, 2 terms of Obama followed by 2 terms of Donald Trump and then 2 terms of a Democrat would mean 24 years without a conservative in the White House. Problem for the Republicans is that pretty much every Republican Senator hates Ted Cruz who is running second. Liberals blame the Republican Party for Donald Trump's success. It is as if he was lurking in the shadows like some undead, waiting to pounce on the unsuspecting Americans with his racism, xenophobia, gender bias and impossible economic policies. After the miserable failure of Jeb Bush, the other establishment candidate, Marco Rubio dropped out after his humiliation in his home state of Florida saying," From a political standpoint, the easiest thing to have done in this campaign is to jump on all those anxieties. But that is not what's best for America. The politics of resentment against other people are not just going to leave us as a fractured party. They're going to leave us a fractured nation." The usual bromide dished out by the politicians. We know best, voters are mugs. Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton has squeaked through in Missouri. Her biggest mistake was working as the Secretary of State for Obama. She has been blamed for a cover up of the attack on a consulate in Benghazi, in Syria, in September 2012, in which Ambassador Chris Stevens and 3 other Americans were killed. But it was not Clinton's fault. Susan Rice, a personal friend of Obama, went round the news channels claiming that it was not a premeditated terrorist attack but a spontaneous outburst in response to an anti-Muslim video on the internet. Why was she lying? Because Obama was up for reelection in November. Having won 2 terms through a combination of racism (overwhelming black votes) and political correctness Obama has presided over the greatest loss of down-ballot Democrat seats than any president in 70 years. His boast about economic recovery is shaky at best and he is despised by working class whites, who should be the bedrock of Democrats. If Trump becomes president Obama will have no legacy. Better to have no legacy than one like his.

No comments: