And then there's 'The Donald'

The American icon known to all of us as "The Donald"  has been an attention-getter most of his adult life. In that respect, nothings changed there. What has changed is the fact that we're a much more celebrity/cult of personality driven society. And it isn't that Trump was ever a brilliant president-in-the-making, but that he has  perfected the art, momentarily, of looking like a brilliant president-in-the-making.
 
While it is definitely true that I'd rather have just about anyone other than a President Obama, that isn’t a particularly high hurdle these days and Trump just barely met that threshold. What bothers me most is that supposedly serious journalists went ga-ga over him. I don't know if it was his brashness that they found appealing, but I'm sure wasn't intellect. I'd call Trump a carnival huckster but I wouldn't want to insult the entire carnival hucksters industry.

 If we had a real media, Trump would have been a 1-week story. Unfortunately, we don't have a real media so it was turned into a carnival sideshow. Trump should have never been taken so seriously. I suspect that the reason that the networks gave him the run he got is because his type of eccentricity fits with their type of eccentricity. Donald Trump is an insanely rich man who should stick to doing the things that insanely rich people do. Some suggest that Mr. Trump is connected to Main Street's drumbeat. It's true that there are plenty of millionaires and billionaires who stay connected with Main Street, but most of the people falling into that category make a living selling to Main Street.  If anything is true, it's that Trump sells to elites and the rich.

 Still, Trumps dabbling in politics has shone light on some things that Republicans better heed before 2012. The biggest lesson is that they must be solutions-oriented. It isn't that Mr. Trump was a brilliant policy wonk, but  that he spoke clearly in identifying his solutions. (For instance,Trump's policy of taking Iraqi oil to pay for the war is stupid but it was something populists latched onto.)

Another thing to be taken to heart as we watched Trump is that leadership is a must. In fact, I'd argue that leadership, policy and problem-solving are inherently connected.


Finally, its important that Republicans learn there are a limited number of battlefields worth fighting for. Mr. Trump found an issue that got people excited, then he exploited it for all it was worth. 


But, the birther issue proved to be a silly waste of time and one that this administration had an answer for. They won't be that lucky with gas prices, unemployment or inflation.

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