Optimism flash
Trump is scary for sure.* But after all the shit is shoveled in this shameful election season, the U.S. will probably have elected its first woman president, after twice electing its first black president. And both are arguably about the best choices a country could make. fit to govern the world's most powerful country.
"Arguably"...I have always had doubts and qualms about Clinton -- her judgment, her ties to powerful interests, her political communication skills. But she probably has as good a grasp of policy -- issue by issue, detail by detail -- as any elected official in the country. She could be a disappointment -- or even, if she gets pulled into a stupid war, a disaster. But she could be great, too. Obama, early in his presidency, defined his task as turning the battleship of state a few degrees on multiple fronts. He's done that, and Clinton would (or should) ensure that we stay the corrected course.
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* I would have thought that Trump was too obviously fraudulent, infantile and incompetent to be scary in himself. What's scary is that a substantial chunk of the electorate finds him credible -- or, if those who respond to infantile rage are always with us, that our media and political system give such a buffoon oxygen.