Weekly Opinion Editorial
EXPERIENCE DOESN’T MEAN COMPETENCE!
by Steve
Fair
The first presidential
debate was held on Monday. Donald Trump
and Hillary Clinton squared off at Hofstra University with NBC anchor Lester
Holt as moderator. The debate was
divided into six 15-minute segments on three topics; Achieving Prosperity, The
Direction of America, Securing America. Each
candidate got two minutes to respond to each question. Here are my observations:
First, Holt was not a
neutral moderator. At times, Lester was
helping Hillary. He questioned Trump on
his answers and at times argued with him.
He never did that to Clinton.
Trump wisely didn’t call out Holt because it would have looked like
whining, but facts are facts; Holt is clearly a liberal who supports
Hillary. The media’s support of the
liberal agenda is well known, but it is irritating when they present themselves
as neutral.
Second, Clinton didn’t
perform badly at the debate. While she
had a ‘blinking eye’ attack during one of Trump’s responses, overall she didn’t
look like she was sick. She generally addressed
the questions and was clear on her agenda; tax the rich, redistribution of
wealth, take away private gun ownership, and neuter law enforcement. Even if you disagreed with Clinton’s answers,
there was little doubt where she stood on the issues.
Third, Trump could have done
better. That’s not to say he did poorly-
he didn’t- but he should have taken the opportunity to attack her more on the
Email scandal. Hillary has said she had
no idea about modern computer technology and yet she claimed she would protect
America from cyber-attacks. Trump gave
her a pass. He also could have attacked
her on Benghazi and it never came up. He
never mentioned the Clinton foundation. It appeared he had a case of the
sniffles and that was ironic since he has talked about Hillary’s coughing so
much. He didn’t hit it out of the park, but he didn’t strike out either.
Fourth, once again race
came up in a debate. Hillary tried to
paint Trump as a racist, but fact is she has referred to African-American youth
as ‘superpredators.’ Trump has made
major gains with minorities because he has correctly pointed out the Democrat
Party has done nothing for minorities. “They
simply tell them all these great things they are going to do, but never do
anything except see you in four years,” Trump said.
Fifth, Trump was gracious
and didn’t attack her on a personal level.
Clinton was nasty toward Donald, calling him a racist and a sexist. Trump said he thought about coming back at
her, but chose not to when he looked and saw Chelsea in the audience. Hillary’s
strategy to attack Trump on how he treats women is a risky one. Bill Clinton has been accused of sexual
assault and has many mistresses in his background. Many believe that Hillary not only knew about
Bill’s wandering eye, but approved of the serial philandering.
Trump actually did well in
pointing out the NAFTA treaty has resulted in unfair trade practices with
Mexico. He correctly pointed out that
politicians most often fail to deliver on promises. He scored a body blow when he said that
Clinton’s poor judgment is one of the reasons ISIS exists. He said she didn’t
have the temperate or stimuli to be the POTUS. “She has experience, but its bad experience,”
Trump concluded.
With a little more preparation,
Trump could have mopped the floor with Clinton at the debate. He can ill afford to miss opportunities when
he can speak directly to millions of voters and contrast himself with
Clinton. She was clearly more
prepared. Trump was like a poorly
prepared superior football team that escapes with a win with a last minute
field goal over a lesser opponent. Not many ‘swing’ voters were moved one way
or the other. Trump must do better if he
expects to win.
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