First Blog

If the election is likened to the game of Bridge, the nation may bid no-Trump.      Below is a letter I wrote to Eric Trump, son of “the Donald.” In it I note that Donald Trump is all but gone as a presidential candidate.   If you are a Trump supporter, this may come as dismal news.   If you support Clinton, you will be elated.   I am hopeful that Trump will become a more respectful candidate, making the election more competitive. The alternative is to give Clinton a mandate in the coming election.   This is never good.   It would not be good for either.   It implies the winner can simply ignore critique and pursue their most base predilections. Leadership is critical for a President.   Balance is vital as well.   Eric, When your dad stabilizes and acts intelligent by not shooting off his mouth whenever he feels affronted, then I will reconsider. Yet, I think you know this is what he does.  You have seen it in board room meetings.  You have seen his nasty little remarks to

I used to like Presidential candidate Carly Fiorina for her practical viewpoints on how to proceed to restore our nation to its former greatness. She seems experienced.   She seems knowledgeable.   She does make some great sound bites.    Yet she scolds, and even preaches to us, explaining mostly how she is the perfect choice to solve the big problems of our day, and also how she could confront delimit and then defeat Hillary Clinton.   She deprecates everyone, not just the democrats.      She talks to us as if we are ignorant and the government is doing nothing and can do nothing.   On security, she talks about applying big data algorithms as though she understands them, but she betrays her ignorance of the size of the data sets (zettabytes) she wishes to examine.   Her broad strokes on security are designed only for the masses and newscasts.  Let’s face it.   The Presidential job has become almost too large for anyone.    We, the country, may be seeking what we cannot ha

We are looking at the next 2016 Presidential candidates to jump into the political toaster - or waiting on line. In this, Chapter III, of politics and toast, we note the toaster is busy, or will be busy soon.  In the recent GOP debate, we saw on the early show, only New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie made an impact.  former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee was in there but on the margin.  Former Pennsylvania Senator from  Rick Santorum and Governor of Louisiana Bobby Jindal were disappointing. Two orders of toast coming up. Three candidates, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and former New York Gov. Former Governor of New York George Pataki, and Former Governor of Virginia Jim Gilmore  were eliminated from the debates altogether.  They are toast-men walking.  Though Graham markets himself as a super-hawk, there are few listeners.  Americans don't want another heavy war.  A sanitized war, airplanes only, is would be fine.  Difficult it is to understand why the other two remain in it

Scott Walker.  Another order of toast has been served in the form of Scott Walker, who suspended his campaign yesterday. Both Perry and Walker, successful governors of their respective states, are now gone.   If we are following governors we would expect to see Huckabee, Jindal, and Pataki  withdraw in the near term.  Governors have the tremendous advantages of needing to work within a state system, and without the option of deficit spending.  Governors usually have the record of working successfully with the opposition, a skill diminished and even deprecated  in recent years. This would be a shame for the alternatives will become outsiders and insiders - plus the remaining governors.   All those still in the game have their own calculus on who they want in and who should go.  The remaining governors no doubt celebrate the Walker exit, though lauding his experiential excellence - whatever that means.  I suggest that for some candidates, the rise of Trump, Fiorina, and Carson will s

A. “ Hope and Trust ” is a campaign slogan no one dares use these days – or ever.   Indeed, it seems never to have been used, but every campaigner at some point begins or concludes a speech beginning with the sentence, “I hope and trust …. “   This is the candidate’s principle platitude.   This is the phrase that enjoins the candidate to the voter, the stakeholder of the community.   This is the phrase that conjures faith in the what the following predicate and object suggest.     I presume no candidate will ever have the nerve to venture forth with this loaded couplet of terms as a slogan.   While many hope for the better, and while many have trust better times are before us, none use it as a slogan. It doesn’t resonate with anyone - except in the negative.   It asks just too much to believe. For the politician... Asking for trust is too much to hope for.  Hoping for trust is asking too much. Hope is a vague term having individual meanings for each voter.   Some hope for