Presidential election, 2016

[Bob Butler 54]

(10-05-2016, 07:48 PM)X_4AD_84 Wrote: Call me naive but all of this has a Regeneracy feel to it. Now, the fly in the ointment will be the Trump supporters and other fringe elements. In order to truly form up the Regeneracy, some fraction of the fringe elements need to be won back into the emerging new coalition, which clearly transcends the legacy boundaries of the Democratic and Republican Parties. Back 20 years ago when I was a Clinton hater, I never imagined I would be sitting here with my own plan to vote for HRC meanwhile witnessing the amazing sequence of events now unfolding.

I share your hopes of regeneracy and fears of naivety.  Trump has made a mess of the Republicans, at least at the presidential level.  Has he dealt a fatal blow, or can something like the Reagan Bush Bush coalition stay together?

The willingness to use the filibuster as a routine tools remains problematic.  Traditionally, filibusters were rare.  A majority could rule.  Of late, the filibuster combined with the veto has been used to prevent most significant changes.  A regeneracy would seem to require a filibuster proof majority in both houses of Congress, a change in the rules of order, or a step back from the extreme filibuster obstructionism of recent years.  I've seen the simple racist explanation that many Republicans could not tolerate the idea that the first black president be seen as a success.  Will there be a similar sexist desire directed towards the first female president?  Has the decades old Republican demonization of Hillary given us any reason to expect otherwise?

So I'm not ready to celebrate the regeneracy yet.  The Republicans are badly messed up right now, at least at the top of the ticket.  The failure of their ideas could become obvious enough to effect the state and local races.  Who knows?