Senioritis

After Aretha Franklin passed away, one of the video clips shared on social media showcased Aretha singing “Natural Woman” at the Kennedy Center with president Obama and Michelle in the audience. The association of Aretha Franklin and Obama is noteworthy because it represents something we’ve lost in the past couple of years both in the presidency and as a country, and that is, a sense of grace.  Obama had many flaws as a president. He was not a political animal.  He could not twist arms like Lyndon Johnson. He was too reasonable with his opponents. When he reached across the aisle, he expected someone to grasp his hand and instead it was slapped away. Instead of withdrawing from Afghanistan as he promised he would, he consulted the generals who surprise, surprise, asked for more troops. He refused to punish Wall Street when they bet against America and won while the rest of us lost. And he turned the funds for rebuilding the infrastructure over to the states resulting in the state

  It appears that our democracy may not be the best system there is. It does not seem to be working. It is pretty easy to see that America is a little off, a sick country. Sure, Donald Trump is a big time grifter whose real estate empire is built on Russian crime money, a thief who doesn’t pay his taxes, a liar who exploits our bankruptcy laws, an accused rapist and serial sexual assaulter, a racist and a xenophobe who promotes conspiracy theories, but every country has people like that. The problem is not only that we enabled him to succeed but that we actually elected him to the most powerful office in the world. And now that he is engaged in a slow-motion coup, refusing to apply sanctions on Russia approved by Congress, attacking the courts, the press and the department of justice, the lackeys that elected him grovel at his feet and sing his praises. For a long time, Americans have engaged in a form of willful ignorance. It is woven into the ludicrous notion held by three