By BILL DELEHUNT
While all op-ed writers have different goals and dreams, deep down, we all really want to be advice columnists. So, here’s a little unsolicited advice you politicians can take right after the election, while the rest of us try to recover from the tremendous headache you have given the entire country:
President Trump: Congratulations, Mister President! You did it, overcoming all the naysayers, the backstabbing from the Republican Party’s establishment, and your own terrible faux pas on the campaign trail. Now you must become the best president you can be. Study the issues. Realize the complexity of governance; it is not like running a business. Listen to the people who understand real power in the military, in the diplomatic field and on the economy. You don’t know everything, and your campaigning style seemed to show you actually know very little about the civilian government, the military or the power of the position you are about to accept. Study. Study hard. We deserve it.
Mrs. Clinton: Congratulations on well-run campaign. While you fell short of your goal, you broke that glass ceiling, and other women will run for the presidency. We may never see another all male ticket. Please accept our thanks. Now, fade into the background of U.S. politics. Do important work, but make Jimmy Carter your role model, and avoid the limelight. Don’t go away mad, but please exit the stage. And take your husband with you.
Democratic Party: It is your turn to be the party of obstruction. State immediately there will be no votes, ever, on President-elect Trump’s nominees for the Supreme Court. Follow that up by shutting down the government, as the Republicans did in 2013. Remember when Speaker of the House John Boehner said this about President Obama’s agenda: “We’re going to do everything — and I mean everything we can do — to kill it, stop it, slow it down, whatever we can.” Remember Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell: “The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.” Revenge is a dish best served cold, and January is very cold in Washington.
Libertarian Party: You could have made a dramatic impact on this election, because the two most disliked candidates in our 240-year history were running against each other. All you had to do was nominate a real candidate. But, you didn’t. Governor Gary Johnson spent any airtime he could get in August and September begging for a place at the podium on the debates. However, when asked domestic policy questions or about substantive foreign affairs, he drew blanks. Please do not send us another stuffed shirt in four years. Find an incisive mind, knowledgeable of the world situation, communicative and polished, who believes the two party system has become hidebound, controlled by special interests and in some ways as corrupt as their opponents claim, and run her for president (okay, maybe it will be a man … who knows? What difference would it make?)
FBI Director James Comey: Your bombshell announcement of additional emails from Hillary Clinton’s top aide’s ex-husband’s computer 11 days before the election was a dud, did nothing to clarify the situation, and made the FBI look partisan instead of loyal to the citizens of the U.S. Now we know you had the information weeks ahead of time, but did nothing to get more clarity to give the electorate insight they could use in casting a ballot. Resign quietly, before the month is out, find a highly paid job at a partisan think tank of your choice and disappear forever.
House of Representatives: Pass a budget. Your homework was due by Oct.1 and you still haven’t done it. You have allowed the partisan bickering to go on for far too long. Do your damn job.
Senate: Hold hearings on Merrick Garland and vote on his competency to be the next associate justice of the Supreme Court. It doesn’t matter if you confirm him or reject him. Do your damn job.
Kellyanne Conway: Go away. Take Anne Coulter and Donna Brazille with you. In a year when another woman ran for the highest office in America, you three were screechingly embarrassing.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Stay out of politics. You’re almost as bad as Director Comey. Military members cannot make political statements while in uniform and that should go double for Supreme Court members.
Ivanka Trump: While other women were embarrassing the country, you supported your father with panache. Use what appears to be a sharp mind, study the issues closely, and run for office yourself in the next decade. You would be the worst nightmare of your political opponents. But be more knowledgeable and better prepared for the political stage than your father or your brothers.
Michelle Obama: Have lunch with Ivanka. Share stories, compare notes. Be ready and select your time to run. The precedent has been set, and you’ve had a good role model for the last eight years.