Lessons for the next cycle

Jason Hitzert
Aug 24, 2017 · 3 min read

This past presidential election was a disaster the proportions of which are showing themselves more fully every day. I keep reading pieces about people who are still talking about Bernie and Clinton. I don’t know if the future is determined but I do know the past is and I tend to favor Dennett when I hear musings about alternate outcomes and how if, “we had only done this!” We don’t get to do that though and we also will never know how the corporate presidency of Hillary Clinton would have been.

One of the reasons I really got excited to support Clinton was Bernie Sanders would have been a disaster. I think Clinton is smart and would have probably had a vastly different president than her husband but it doesn’t matter anymore. I suspect a Sanders presidency would have been like hiring someone that wrecks cars all the time and lost their license to drive for your F1 team, fun to watch but not much in the way of achieving anything.

Our takeaway from this last presidential election must be that political and media professionals shouldn’t take the conventional wisdom of a candidacy as a fait accompli. Just as activists shouldn’t project their disdain on a candidate for associations that are very much required to make actual real change. The problem with the rap against Hillary and which is now being placed on Kamala Harris, Cory Booker and Deval Patrick is that they have somehow been tainted by association with private and public institutions that are flawed.

The reality from history shows us that complete outsiders are hardly ever effective and when they are it is because of a brilliant mind and charismatic presence. Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt were both more like Clinton, Harris, Booker and Patrick in their institutional associations and yet that is where some of our most profound historical changes came from. Eugene V. Debs (who I think is the historical stand in for Sanders) will never be president of the United States no matter how much you would want that.

We need people that are of the world in which they want to see change not above it, converts are the most active agents of change and sinners always make the best saints. Just to be honest with myself, and you, the only thing that is more tired than the arguments against Clinton are the ones for her continued candidacy. Why are we litigating a failed cycle rather than learning from its lessons? We had one candidate that the institutions of power in the Democratic Party were overwhelmed (in every sense of that word) to support and another that was too deluded to realize it. After the years he spent undermining Obama the only person I could support Sanders against was Trump, but make no mistake he was our Trump. Clinton of course was our Jeb, and wouldn’t you rather have Jeb instead of Trump right now?

Next time I’m hoping for a better choice, maybe even one that has very little in the way of historical context. Someone from whom we can learn new lessons about victory and service that will shape a brighter future.

)
Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade