All this week I’ve wondered how history will record and characterize the events surrounding this unusual presidential election and its fallout. It’s odd to think someday this election will be a footnote in political history. While much will be written about it, no book could capture the daily emotional roller coaster Americans experienced.
I am curious, though, whether history books will remember 2016 as a watershed political phenomena or whether it will be but a momentary blip — worth mentioning but not that significant.
Electing the first woman president would have been historic. But it wouldn’t have changed our political system. Unfortunately, weighted down by Obama’s legacy and her own ethical shortcomings, Hillary Clinton never energized enough voters.
Nevertheless, Clinton was gracious in defeat, asking her supporters to accept the election results and promising to work with President-elect Donald Trump.
This election is most historic because no one saw it coming. The media, the pollsters, even the stock market never believed Trump could pull off the greatest upset in political history.
Leading up to the election, many Americans seemingly held their collective breaths knowing regardless of who won the presidency, it wasn’t their first choice and hoping for a miracle to deliver them from the inevitable.
Certainly, there were those who believed fervently in their candidate but for many it was half-hearted. Some posed the “lesser of two evils” or the “no vote is a vote for the other person” arguments. But our democracy is eroded should that become the prevailing reason to vote for someone.
Trump’s claims to the contrary, America is still a great country. We may have strayed from our original purpose and we have our share of problems. But no one person (President or otherwise) can bring this country down or deny the fact America remains a force for good in the world today.
We know as Americans our politics need to change if we want to preserve the foundation upon which our country is based. Campaigns that raise virtually unlimited amounts of money fuel a system of politicians beholden to contributors that is rife with favoritism.
The increasing politicization of our judicial nomination process and the day-to-day workings of Congress led President Obama, unfettered by judicial restraint and frustrated by a gridlocked Congress, to issue executive orders of dubious constitutional authority.
To a large degree, it was this feeling of frustration and resulting populist rebellion that brought us here. The “Hope and Change” promised by Obama never materialized. Both major political parties experienced nothing less than mutinies within their ranks.
The Democrats barely managed to salvage a semblance of unity as many Bernie Sanders supporters only begrudgingly voted for Hillary Clinton. The Republican Party was in open revolt as some prominent party leaders not only refused to endorse Donald Trump, but actively worked against him.
Yet, in defying the odds, Trump turned prevailing political wisdom on its head. He was the one that heard the voice of people that no one else did. For that, Trump deserves the opportunity to lead and prove his detractors wrong.
Today, both major political parties are fractured. It’s difficult to see how either party will continue without significant upheaval and change. Is this the beginning of the end of traditional conservatism? Will the resulting party organizations be more open to compromise and less influenced by special interests? Will other major political parties emerge from this morass?
It remains to be seen whether Trump will be a unifier or a divider. He has an opportunity to bridge some very deep divisions among Americans and congressional leaders of both parties.
With one party holding the Presidency and both houses of Congress there will be an overwhelming temptation to make sweeping changes that have not been possible up to now. Some of these changes will be good. but we need to guard against radical changes that are not well thought out.
Regardless, Trump’s election bodes well for Alaska’s economy with a friendlier Department of Interior and our congressional delegation holding key posts in a Republican controlled House and Senate.
Trump’s greatest gift to America could be a dose of reality. As Robert Samuelson writes in the Washington Post this week, our new President faces a “….daunting task of reconciling the vast promises that have been made, both in this campaign and earlier, with the government’s limited ability to meet those promises. It won’t be easy.”
Both political parties and their candidates are guilty of making promises that can’t be kept. Politicians should be straight with the American people. It may not help them get elected (or re-elected) but they might be surprised. Americans still value sincerity and honesty. If only all our politicians did as well. That would be truly historic.
• Win Gruening retired as the senior vice president in charge of business banking for Key Bank in 2012. He was born and raised in Juneau and is active in community affairs as a 30-plus year member of Juneau Downtown Rotary Club and has been involved in various local and statewide organizations.
