Saturday, November 12, 2016

Disappointment Ahead

I saw an article by fellow Minnesotan Garrison Keillor after the election about how those who voted for Trump will not get what they expect. I didn't care for some of the tone of GK's article, but in many ways he is right on target. Mr. Trump will not be able to deliver what they think he can do; nor will be be able to do what he thinks he can do.

The government works differently. Or it should.

No president has ever been able to provide what he has promised. Some of it is simply the great difficulty in moving from campaign rhetoric to reality. I also have a hunch that sometimes when the candidate becomes the president he learns inside things that were unknown before. He also realizes that in many ways he is now the president of all the people and that nothing is as simple as the relatively black and white of a political campaign.

But I speak from experience.To many people President Obama did not live up to his promises. The country didn't change in the ways he- and we- hoped it would. Guantanamo is still open eight years later. That is political life in a democracy. I pray that Trump's supporters are ready to be disappointed that he is not the savior they hope him to be.

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