None of the Above, Please.

I had the honor of participating in the Rutger's Eagelton "Morning After" program this morning with Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg and reporters Michael Symons and Michael Hill. You can watch the lively discussion here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWfkX0bSmJ4

Here are my opening remarks:

I will be 62 this summer. This will be my 12th Presidential election. It will the first in which I will not cast a ballot for President and Vice President. That is sad.

I am an optimist by nature. I choose to go through life hoping for the best. It is just a better path. You get to the same place anyway regardless of your outlook. You might as well be cheerier on the way.

But I am as pessimistic about the future of America as I have ever been in my 61 plus years. Apparently I am not alone.

They ask this question on polls: “Do you believe the country is headed in the right direction or the wrong direction?” Some pollsters even rotate “right” and “wrong” in order to be fair. The most recent time that question was asked was just last week and it was asked by Rasmussen of 2,500 Americans - a pretty large sample size. 66 percent - two out of every three - of Americans believe we are headed in the wrong direction. Only 27 percent believe we are headed in the right direction.

That would be astonishing news if it were not for the fact that Americans have given pretty much the same assessment the last 100 or so times they were asked that question over the past year by more than a dozen pollsters. 

Americans are angry. They are depressed. They are pessimistic about the future. They feel the real pain of a stagnant economy. A CNBC survey found that 40 percent of the unemployed have stopped looking for a job - that translates into four million of our friends and neighbors and family members. They’ve quit on America.

Americans are confused - and some are frustrated by a culture that is changing near daily. Their belief systems are challenged routinely. Some feel unprotected against what Peggy Noonan described as a “hostile dominant culture.” Americans are numbed by  technological innovation that has given us the greatest ability to connect with one another in world history, but an inability to communicate. 

And I am sorry to report to you Mr. Hill and Mr. Symons, that Americans simply do not have a great deal of trust and confidence in the media to report the news fully, accurately and fairly. Sadly, the last time Gallup asked that question - just this past fall - the number of Americans who trusted the media fell to an ALL TIME HISTORIC low at 40 percent. Most Americans - a majority - do not trust the press and that has been true in survey after survey since 2007.

And now many - not all - not even a majority I suspect - because many have found solace in the nominees, but more Americans than during any national election I have witnessed are disappointed, angry and bitter about a process that has left them with two candidates for President they simply cannot support. And that is true on both sides of the political aisle.

I am one of them.

I cannot support my party’s nominee. The reason are many and I guess if I am forced to, I will elaborate, but I am mindful that I was invited here this morning to present a Republican point of view - I believe I am alone in that task - But barring a reawakening in Cleveland this July that would rival the Second Coming, Mr. Trump is going to be our nominee.

I can sum up my thoughts on Mr. Trump - who I have met - with whom I have dined - and whom I have been personally lobbied by - in the words of someone else - someone I respect greatly: Charles Murray:

“In my view, Donald Trump is unfit to be president in ways that apply to no other candidate of the two major political parties throughout American history.”

And so while I cannot and will not make the case on why he should win in November and become President of the United States - because I do not believe that - I will try to explain why so many support him and believe in him. In that way, I hope to at least partially fulfill my obligation to Eagleton for a balanced point of view on this panel.

The second part of my task is easier:

I cannot support Mrs. Clinton. I find her to be dishonest and I find her to be corrupt. I would NEVER vote to grant her more power. I do not believe she has “OUR” collective best interests at heart and I believe that has been borne out time after time after time during she and her husband’s long political career. 

Some have characterized this election as a classic “lesser of two evils” election, but choosing the lesser evil is still choosing evil and I choose not to do so.

Geez Does This Election Ever Suck

I recently told a friend I would not discuss or write about the national election anymore. It is not like I get it. It is not like a single insight, prediction or analysis I have made in the past six months has been anywhere close to what has prevailed when real people either voted or talked to pollsters.

But I am addicted to politics. So in the paraphrased words of Ronald Reagan and Chris Christie, “Here it is and here I go again.”

Let me first ask a question: Have we not known since November of 2012 that come 2016 we would be required to pick a brand new President? The Constitution demands it. We cannot decline. Then why have both political parties failed to assemble an acceptable field of candidates from which we can choose? Is this really the best we can do?

This is a flawed election but perhaps it perfectly reflects a confused, ambivalent, pessimistic and borderline depressed nation.

So what happens if neither party fields a candidate ideal for the times? And by that, I do not mean a candidate who best epitomizes the times - there are plenty of those - but one who is ideally suited to lead us for the next four to eight years.  Well, then we are - to put it in technical terms - screwed.

You are welcome at this point to proudly make your case for one of the candidates currently contending for the presidency, but the American electorate has clearly and unenthusiastically already weighed in at the polls (and whatever they call that thing they substitute for democracy in Iowa) and in public opinion surveys on this bunch and and have voiced a collective “Eh.”

So what happens next?

What if no strong independent candidate threw his or her hat into the ring and said the ‘the time is now?”

What if after fairly closely examining some two dozen men and women from all walks of political, spiritual and professional life the American people said ‘uh uh, nah. None of them?’

Well then you would have the American Presidential Election of 2016.

At the end of the day, it looks like we will wind up with Trump-Clinton or Rubio-Sanders or Cruz-Clinton or Kasich-Sanders or any other combination you want to compose from the remaining field. 

Get you excited? Make you want to roll up your sleeves, give up some weekends and evenings and knock on some doors? Thought not.

Sure, the partisans will retreat into their respective camps and come out guns-a-blazing for their nominee this fall. The rest of the nation looks like it is going to say “bleh” and check out what’s on Netflix.

How could our political parties have failed us so monumentally? Perhaps it is finally time to ditch this two-party system once and for all. We cannot even articulate what a “Republican” or “Democrat” is anymore except when we decide to say that so and so is NOT one.

But I remain hopeful. It is my nature. For the first time in a couple of generations, a late comer to the election can ascend to the White House. And not just for a tour or the Easter Egg Roll. This is your time. There has never been this perfect storm of “flavor-of-the-day-soup-du-jour” society meets wide open presidential election. 

Are you a popular actor or athlete over the age of 35 with something to say; solid communications skills; and some great ideas to lead the nation. This is your chance.

Are you a business person, a health care provider, a reporter (God forbid. No, really, God, forbid it.), leader of a non profit, labor leader, a mayor, commissioner, representative, senator, governor, religious leader, ANYONE out there who is willing to give it a shot? 

If you have EVER harbored illusions that you can be President; if you have ever said, “I can do a better job than that sorry lot in Washington;” if you have ever been elected to student council and actually liked it; THIS IS YOUR TIME!

Boy, are we ever desperate. Throw your hat in the ring. Let us take a look. We will let you know pretty quickly. We always do.

A grateful nation thanks you.