America Is Better Off and Safer Today

“Monday Musings” is a new column looking at the 2016 elections published most Mondays. You can find previous editions here.

2016 Overview – The Huffington Post poll tracker now has the race at 4.8 points for Clinton, a slight drop from her high two weeks ago.  While there are some polls showing movement in the last few days away from Clinton, others show large leads.  Expect a period of very volatile polls over the next month or so until they settle down a bit in August.

With Sanders coming on board the Clinton campaign today, a central contrast of the 2016 campaign will begin to emerge more clearly – united party/strong team/proven track record/thoughtful agenda vs. isolated Trump/unpopular leaders/failed Presidencies/no forward looking solutions to emerging challenges.   This emerging contrast, an inevitable outcome of the next few weeks, will make it far more likely that Clinton and the Democrats make gains and lead heading into the home stretch of this historic campaign. 

Part of that contrast has been developed in the deeply respectful and civilized way the Democrats worked through their platform over the past few weeks.   While the primary was contentious, and there were meaningful platform fights/disagreement, this process was well within the bounds of our how our politics is supposed to work.   The capacity to resolve disagreements is the cornerstone of a properly working democracy.   Which is why this contrast with Trump, who remains at war with his own party just days before his own convention, is so important.  Trump is missing perhaps the single most critical trait for a leader of a democracy – the ability to work through and solve problems with people you disagree with.   His take his ball and go home sensibility, isolationist in the extreme, is one that almost guarantees the failure of a Trump Presidency.   Democrats would be wise to make more of how he has conducted himself during this campaign with his own fellow Republicans as a clear signal of his inability to manage the complexities of the Presidency itself. 

Are We Better Off?

There is little doubt the questions of are we better off and safer today after 8 years of the Obama Presidency will become central to the coming campaign.   To me, this is not even a close call.   Let’s review some data and bust some myths along the way:

- Millions More Have Jobs, and Incomes Have Been Rising Since at Least 2013 (link)

- Tens of Millions Have Gained Health Insurance, and the Uninsured Rate Has Dipped to Historically Low Levels (Link)

- Annual Deficits Are One Fourth % of GDP That They Were Under Last Year of Bush Presidency (Link)

- The Stock Market Has Been Hovering at All Time Highes, and Is More Than Twice What It Was When Obama Came to Office (Link)

- High School Graduation Rates Are at An All Time High (Link)

- Crime Across the US Has Plummeted, and the Nation is Much Safer Today (Link)

- There Have Been No Foreign Fighter Attacks on US Soil in 15 Years (Link)

- There Are Fewer Undocumented Immigrants in the US Today than At End of Bush Administration - The Flow Has Dramatically Slowed (Link)

- Far Fewer Americans Have Died in This Decade Due to Terrorists Attacks or Died in Military Actions Overseas (Link, Link)

- The US Could Be Energy Independent By 2020 (Link)

- Renewable Energy Production Has Soared (Link)

- Greenhouse Gas Emissions Declined in 2015 (Link)

If you look at recent polling data, it is hard to conclude that Americans are angry or giving up hope.  They may be anxious, and want more from their country and their leaders, but you can find in the data that people understand that things are improving in America.   Here is a good example. 

I am not being Pollyannaish here.  There are lots of challenges facing our country, and the world today.  Yes, we have much work to do.  But finding a data stream to counter what I just put up there is no easy thing to do.  Should we be satisfied with where we are? Of course not.  But are we better off today? Clearly. 

Look forward to discussing this in the months to come.