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With less than a week to go before the first votes are cast in the race for the Presidency, political leaders within both parties find themselves in crisis mode. On the republican side, Donald Trump and Ted Cruz have party pundits scratching their heads in bewilderment. The two have violated more rules in the presidential campaign playbook than any time before, yet the polls continue to reveal that this style of campaigning is working.
On the democratic side, what was once thought to be a cake walk for Secretary Hillary Clinton is now turning into a real contest thanks to 74-year-old Bernie Sanders, a self-proclaimed (democratic). Network news programs are so baffled by this unorthodox campaign that they’re turning to political outcasts like Donald Rumsfeld for an explanation. The fact that both the left and the right are simultaneously embracing the opinions of fringe politicians is a testament to the impact gridlock in Washington is having on American politics.
This crisis is not a 2016 phenomenon; it’s been brewing for many years. According to a November poll released by Gallup, only 11 percent of voters gave the Republican-controlled Congress a favorable approval rating, and that rating hasn’t risen above 20 percent in four years. Meanwhile, the sitting President’s approval rating hasn’t topped 50 percent for three and a half years. The lack of compromise, threats of government shut downs and Congressional investigations that are more theater than substance appear to be taking their toll on the public’s trust of the political establishment.
Lately, the entire situation has made me wonder if the writers of the movie “The American President” offered a prophetic vision for a future election, when they wrote that argument scene between President Andrew Shepherd and his senior political advisor, played by Michael J Fox:
“They want leadership, Mr. President. They’re so thirsty for it, they’ll crawl through the desert toward a mirage, and when they discover there's no water, they’ll drink the sand.”
President Shepherd Responds: “People don’t drink the sand ’cause they’re thirsty, Lewis. They drink it ’cause they don’t know the difference.”
So the question this election seems to be, will voters keep searching for a mirage in the sandy desert, or will the political establishment put out the flames of this crisis, right their ship and rescue their political hides by this November. Stay tuned!
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Brian Ellis is Executive Vice President of PadillaCRT.
The ridiculously high prices Americans are paying at the supermarket might influence how—or if—they vote in November.
At a moment in history when there are so many conflicts among peoples here and abroad, let us put our differences aside and celebrate this wonderful season in a spirit of togetherness.
The news announcing the death of Henry Kissinger, the last of the prevaricating politicians and so-called statesmen who stole my future and that of thousands of other young Americans, got me thinking about Walter Cronkite.
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