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| Donald Trump takes Presidential Oath. c.Getty Images |
There is always talk of a "peaceful or smooth transition of power". I always thought this rather odd as if anything else has or could have happened. It has always been this way every time my young self mused. This youthful 'Duh' response got its answer as I looked around the world and saw that not all transitions of power were easy and without mayhem. The outside world gawks at this docility (we're talking the inauguration here, not the less docile campaign seasons) while their own leadership eviscerates their opponents verbally, tactically or in more bloody ways. This smooth transition of power is still my expectation and it finds me gawking at all the rest of leadership transitions.
In Australia, it seems Prime Ministers change more often than toilet rolls in an outhouse. A party is, in reality, elected and if the current PM loses favor or is the object of some backroom political jostling and intrigue he/she can be replaced by a simple party vote. OZ had five PMs in five years--need I say more? There is not a lot of fanfare going on with the actual hand over of power. My Australian husband is flabbergasted to hear that a US presidential inauguration (pre-, during, and post-event) is covered live by all of the US television networks. Duh, again. Of course it is, it is a big deal. In fact, Australian television (The public supported Australian Broadcast Corp.) had the inauguration on live as well but watched mostly by night owls as the time difference put the event inconveniently in the middle of the night.
Puzzling to me are the protestors in Washington DC and elsewhere. Celebrities and muckrakers calling for a 100 day protest. Really? And just what is getting angry and staying angry for over three months going to do? It will not and cannot produce change. At least not any change protestors hope it will. Trump is in. Period. Screaming and burning things are not replacements for vigilance and constructive dialog. So you over-excitable and misled folks: take a breath, grow a brain and take the action that actually will produce results. So much energy so misspent so unwisely.
Another, and final, puzzlement is how much I look like every US president since Abraham Lincoln. No really, I do. Over the years when traveling overseas or just out and about here in OZ, I've been constantly stopped and harangued about 'my' policy in Vietnam, Watergate, Irangate, Tibet, the Middle East, any/all military moves or lack of movement, monetary issues, roads, education, farming subsidies, slavery in the 1850s, etc.,etc., etc. What a chameleon I am to look exactly like whoever is residing in 1600 Pennsylvania Ave! Or do people think that I am the puppet master pulling the strings of all political being in Washington DC? More wasted energy of people barking in my not-like-any-president's face thinking it will make a difference.
And for the record, I was not on the grassy knoll either.
From D.M. in Ohio :
ReplyDeleteWow, Hilary, this should be an editorial in the NYT. Well done.