US voters have to decide who is the lesser of two evils
People entering the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia these past days for the 2016 Democratic National Convention have been first greeted by goods on display in an official merchandise store. The most eye-catching is a poster of the party’s nominee Hillary Clinton, looking 20 years younger and with red and gold rays radiating from her.
Each day from 3 or 4 pm on, the speakers talked about how great Clinton has been in fighting for the American people in everything from women’s rights, social and racial equality, education, healthcare and national security, and how evil Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, is in everything he represents.
In between the speeches, short video clips were played eulogizing Clinton and mocking Trump, triggering a frenzy of applause and laughter from the audience. The mood smacks of a cult of personality.
Yet the bid to present party unity and widespread support for Clinton has been interrupted from time to time by shouts of protests from supporters of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.
There have been other “conventions” – outside the arena in the FDR Park and outside City Hall. Tens of thousands of supporters of Sanders and Green Party candidate Jill Stein have braved the heat to stage protests every day, portraying a Clinton that is starkly different from the one depicted inside the arena.
The debates on the street are far more exciting and thought-provoking than the speeches delivered in Wells Fargo Center.
For example, there has been no talk inside the arena about the Democratic National Committee staffers working in favor of Clinton and against Sanders, including efforts to manipulate US news media to disadvantage Sanders.
Surprisingly, US news media and many Democratic leaders, including President Barack Obama, have focused on whether it was Russians who hacked the Democratic National Committee. But the key issue should be that a level-playing field did not exist for Sanders during the Democratic primaries, not to mention the party’s superdelegates system that further disadvantaged Sanders. And the run-away campaign financing has also cast shadow on the US electoral system.
So far there has been no apology from Democratic leaders to Sanders, not even public acknowledgement of such misdeeds, despite the firing of Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee. On the contrary, Obama and Clinton have both publicly praised Wasserman-Schultz for her outstanding work.
While Democrats and Republicans attack each other during the presidential race, average American voters seem to believe it is a choice between the lesser of two evils, although many passionate Sanders supporters I met vowed to vote for Jill Stein for her similar views and ideals.
A Pew Center poll on July 7 showed that overall satisfaction with the choice of candidates isa tits lowest point in two decades. Fewer than half of registered voters in both parties–43 percent of Democrats and 40 percent of Republicans–say they are satisfied with the choices for president.
In a July 14 poll, only 18 percent of checked the description “someone you admire” for Clinton and 10 percent indicated this for Trump.
If this election is not a vote for the lesser of two evils, then what is it?
If this election is not a vote for the lesser of two evils, then what is it?