Not exactly memorable
America has had better weeks than the one just past.
Only days away from the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates convened for what was dubbed the “Commander-in-Chief Forum,” sponsored by NBC News and hosted by “Where in the world is Matt Lauer?” Indeed. And then there was the Libertarian candidate, Gary Johnson, whose spaceship apparently had just landed in the middle of Earth 2016. Appearing Thursday on “Morning Joe,” he responded to Mike Barnicle’s question about Aleppo with, “And what is Aleppo?” Barnicle might as well have said it was an Italian coffeemaker and moved on.
At the forum, we learned that Lauer apparently just got wind that Hillary Clinton used a private email server because he devoted fully one-third of her allotted time to questions about the email, which has been investigated exhaustively, including by the FBI, for about two years. Otherwise, we learned that Clinton’s top counterterrorism goal is to defeat the Islamic State, which failed to awaken any of the thousands of people who requested an induced coma until after Nov. 8.
From Donald Trump we learned that he built a great company, which was news to us, and that he has a plan for defeating the Islamic State but he’s not about to tell anyone because he might win the election and then the terrorists would know that he intends to ask his top generals for a plan.
We also learned, because we’ve never heard this before, that the U.S.-led Iraq invasion was a mistake that Clinton once favored and that Trump did not, except that he did. But who, pray tell, ever cared what Trump the New York real estate developer thought about our military plans for Iraq? Why not just ask Joe the doorman at 30 E. 76th St.?
Today, let’s face it, everybody’s against it after they were for it.
Clinton seems to have abandoned even her qualifying trope for voting for the Iraq invasion —
At the forum, rising from her seat, she simply and solemnly intoned that it “was a mistake.”
This was a noteworthy moment, obviously premeditated in anticipation of the question, and seems to have been choreographed to convey statesmanlike buck-stopshere gravitas. A curious choice when speaking to the military audience gathered and an unqualified obscenity to the ears of families whose loved ones perished. Why not use the opportunity to say that as commander in chief, her first order of business would be to ensure no such intelligence failure ever happens again?
Similarly curious was Trump’s response outlining his qualifications to command the military: “I’ve built a great company.” For real? He missed an obvious opening to say something thoughtful and original that highlights what he has over his opponent — a record of dealmaking and negotiation. If war is a failure of diplomacy, then Trump could say he’s uniquely qualified to end all wars.
This isn’t necessarily so, but it sure beats his usual Big Talk about nukes and nationalistic jingoism. Instead, he said so little of substance that no one’s the wiser and his supporters can continue to invent whatever fantasy gets them through the night. Including, it would seem, that it’s OK for the Republican nominee to blow kisses at Vladimir Putin, whom Mitt Romney long ago, and to much eye-rolling, identified as our greatest geopolitical foe.
To distill the week: Clinton proved herself knowledgeable, if foggy, and experienced in public affairs, as well as in deceit. Trump is a substance-free figment of his own imagination, whose stated reason for running for president is that he thinks he can win.
Missing Romney yet?