As editor of this publication, I don’t much speak of my own life or experiences but this past election has been very thought-provoking for me, as I’m sure it has been for many of you.
I have found myself feeling very nostalgic and sometimes sad over the course of events that have taken place during this election. I’ve been thinking a lot about the 2000 presidential election. I worked for Vice President Al Gore during his 2000 presidential campaign. I was based in Los Angeles and was part of what was referred to as “Advance White House Staff,” meaning part of my duties were to prepare for Vice President Gore’s visits to California, particularly Los Angeles. This involved a wide array of things: calendar preparation, event scheduling, speech writing, and even working with the Secret Service on setting up security. It was an amazing opportunity to possibly have a future position in the White House under what we were hoping was a Gore/Lieberman administration in 2001. That campaign and election process was exhausting and drawn out, or so we thought at the time. Something is very different this time around. Although we weren’t happy about losing to G.W. Bush (whom we didn’t have a high opinion of anyway), the votes were counted, ever-so-troublesome Florida was recounted, and per the law, Bush was elected the 43rd president of the United States. It was a tough loss but from what I remember, for the most part, all involved held their composure, kept their dignity, checked their egos and calmly let the process play out DEMOCRATICALLY (meaning in accordance with the principles of democracy) and legally. And when the time came, Gore made one of the hardest calls of his life, he conceded the election to Bush as has been done for hundreds of years because it’s the right thing to do, and the transition of power is a delicate operation that shouldn’t be held up; Gore understood that.
I can remember some of Bill Clinton’s administration sarcastically removing the W’s from keyboards as they cleaned out their offices and Republicans thinking that was such a tasteless and sour joke back then. Really Republicans? What say you now about “tasteless and sour?”
Clearly those days are long gone. In the Oval Office of the White House, we currently have a politically inexperienced and narcissistic lunatic who is literally acting like a spoiled child who has just lost a board game and refuses to accept that reality. His dignity never existed, so don’t expect any gracious miracles. Now, in lieu of conceding despite the multitude of his nationwide lawsuits being thrown out of court, he has focused his tantrum on creating problems for the incoming administration. Besides the blocking of daily security briefings, he is now playing with the military, of which he knows only one thing — how to avoid serving.
Who does this guy think he is? How can anybody continue to support and enable him? At what point does someone, anyone, in his administration come forward and call this for what it is — reckless behavior that is unbecoming of a president, and under the 25th Amendment, he could and should be removed for being mentally unfit. This man describes himself as a “stable genius.” White House staffers have “joked” for almost four years that “we’re not at ‘25th Amendment level’ yet.” It appears he wants to see how much he can get away with (which is indicative of his entire life) and it’s very unfortunate that he is surrounded by enablers and “loyalists.”
The silver lining — and yes, it’s bright and shiny! — is that nobody is fooling anyone. The reason that President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris can go forward with their transition team and plans is because of their own individual powers and relationships. Biden has been in and out of the White House for years, aside from serving eight years as vice president. He is familiar with the process and has built many strong relationships; I believe it’s safe to say he’s getting help from the people that matter. Harris is still a senator, a former district and state attorney and still sits on many committees including the Senate Judiciary Committee. If you haven’t had the pleasure of watching her question someone, you can take your pick from a long list including Brett Kavanaugh, Kirstjen Nielsen, and William Barr to name a few. Harris also has access to vital government information and briefings that will help in the transition. The point is, no matter what dirty tricks the current administration continues to try and play, they will lose — worse than they already have. The incoming administration is smarter, stronger, ethical and most importantly, mature and sane!
As we congratulate President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris, we should also acknowledge and celebrate Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on making history as the first female vice president, the highest-ranking female elected official, and the first Asian American and the first African American vice president.
