A Very Untimely Article

The American 2016 Election: A white woman on the top, a white man at the bottom.
Hilary Clinton is poised to become the first female president, but a white woman on the top with a white man at the bottom is not history making. It is not even history repeating itself much less making it.

 

The Democrats had a good run in their unconventional convention when they nominated the first female candidate. The Republicans, too, had an unconventional convention with their unconventional candidate. From Michelle Obama to Bill Clinton, from Joe Biden to Tim Kaine, the Dems framed their gathering as the making of optimistic future in contrast to the Republicans, who in their cloistered “Whitehood”, sprinkled by minorities, mostly painted a bleak future of a country of crime scenes, of roaming illegal and criminal immigrants.

Barring a huge screw-up by the Dems, Hilary Clinton is almost guaranteed to clinching the presidency to become the first female commander in chief. Millions of Americans are excited and rightly so: to wit, their beloved Bill, the ladies’ man of the nighties, the former charmer in chief will be back at the White House. But the USA will not make history with the election of Hilary, that history has been made before in Great Britain, India, Canada, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and even Liberia. History can only be made once; the USA is merely catching up. What the election of Hilary would mean is that the USA, after more than two centuries of rehearsals, refusals, and denials has finally embraced that a woman is worthy of holding the highest office and by so doing America is just dancing to the rhythms of history.

A Hilary presidency, will come almost a century after women were first allowed to vote, a century after the Wright brothers first flew for 59 seconds, and half a century after USA landed on the moon. America excels at hard things, such is creating the nuclear bomb, harnessing the science of aviation to land on the moon, but it sucks at the easy, no-brainer things, like electing a black person or a woman president.

Traumatized by her first failed bid to become the first female president, fearing that Trump’s demagogy may attract some white electorate, cognizant that this may well be her last chance, apprehensive that many Democrats may feel the “Bern”, shuddering that the “crooked” Hilary may stick to her, she played it safe by choosing Tim Kaine. She could not find a black woman, nor a black man, nor any visible minority in American’s diverse demography, failing all that she could not even find a white woman, because she did not look. By choosing a white Spanish speaking man; she has committed forgery of her ticket to make it look like America. A black female running mate would have been bold, and Hilary would have truly made history, instead she settled for mediocrity. With a bold ticket, the White House would have looked more like the country. The Democrats would have gotten even with the Republicans, who abolished slavery under president Lincoln. The Dems would have earned a bragging right for generations, in a nation that is very young, exuberant, still forming, and unfinished, that would have been a hell of history making.

By opting to dance to the rhythms of history, Hilary and the Democrats missed a life time opportunity to make a true American made history. With a different VP pick: a black woman, or a black man, or any minority or even doubling down on two white women would have made America to excel at the easy things too. Trump would have been the easiest opponent against whom the Dems would have accomplished a bold, visionary, audacious ticket.

The speeches at the Democratic Party convention were more gripping, inspiring, and forward looking than their counter parts, but still they were more glamour than valor, bravado than vision, and appealed more to the emotional than to the logical. The Democrats were busy nursing their “Bern”, managing the damage the leaked emails have inflicted, recovering from their “high” of nominating the first woman and so no one bothered to say: ” My fellow Americans, next time we will put a black woman on the top and return her safely to her family after her term ends.”

The Election of Clinton may still be unable to smash to pieces the 6 million cracks she created on that proverbial glass ceiling. The Democrats mocked Trump for his ‘believe me” but they turned around and told the people “believe us”, believe in the plural, not in the singular.
There is no reason for America to trip all over herself to celebrate a history she has not yet made; this is not history making, it is history mimicking, a white woman on the top with a white man at the bottom. 

But how about if Trump fails, not failing to win but failing to lose? Still America will be safe. There is no reason for America to panic either even if Trump fails to lose; because to its credit, it has established a self-correcting system. The Electoral Colleges were established for this very reason and if Trump fails, that is if he is elected, there are tools, legal and democratic tools to deny him the presidency. The electoral College that usually rubber stamps the people’s choice can be used if demagogy emerges, it is one arrow in the quivers of the American system to safe guard the integrity of the system. For buddying courtiers and fledgling democracies, the American systems is an excellent example to emulate and learn from. And the African countries with highly diverse ethnic groups can use it effetely if a member of one ethnic group appeals to the uglier nature of his people to rise to power, the college can strip him of his presidency. I heard Hilary Clinton insinuating that the electrical College were redundant and that there was no need for it in our modern system, but if the Donald trumps Trump, and fails to lose, and is elected president by the people, the same college that she decried may appoint her president when history rhymes with the supreme court decision that made Bush president. 

The founding principles and the foresight of the founding fathers are important for a nation and a nation that kills and disappears its founding fathers will have a better chance of disappearing itself than succeeding and if it avoids the disappearance it will chug along in a vicious cycle, haunted by the ghosts of the disappeared founding fathers and tormented by demonic legacy of the once founding fathers turned destroying fathers.

My fellow Americans, the American ingenuity has failed to put a woman, any woman on the top; even Liberia has beaten you on that, and please do not move Canada even if Trump is elected your president, understand that the immune system of your system has factored that in. You chose good founding fathers. Now move on to the next task of putting a black woman on the top, a white man at the bottom will be fine in that scenario. And since you do not shy away from a good challenge, remember we will go to the moon speech: “…We do these things not because they are easy, but because they are hard.” the challenge is to put a black woman on the top and white woman at the bottom in the 2020 election