I love following politics, especially the American politics which has all the exuberance and excitement associated with it - the arguments over policies, the clash of ideas, the gruelling screening of the candidates through endless debates and countless town hall meetings. But I had never seen anything close to the current campaign.
The election year of 2008 was special in its own way. In the fag end of a faltering and frustrating Bush era, amist a collapsing economy, the charismatic Barack Obama was solicitating the electorates with his sales pitch of "Hope and Change we can believe in".
Desperate to regain his fast sinking poll numbers, his opponent the maverick John McCain took a calculated risk by nominating a lesser known Governor from Alaska as his running mate - Sarah Palin. The lady's sudden arrival at the national political scene had an electrifying effect, soon catching the imagination of American public. It helped McCain to surge temporarily, pulling from behind to take a slight lead over Obama.
To a friend of mine, a highly paid brilliant techie who drove a swanky SUV but a typical MUNDA (an Odia term depicting a stubborn guy) - she was an Angel from heaven, a Star born with a magic wand to tackle the issues of contemporary America. He felt Sarah Palin had all it takes to take the country out of doldrums at a time Dow Jones numbers was collapsing like a pack of cards. The reason he gave - look at her speech, her energy. Her body language tells me she can fix our problem just like that.
It's another matter that Sarah Palin not only didn't know the answers to the issues - often she didn't understand the questions. It was dangerous for such a person to be a breath away from the most powerful position on surface of earth (if the President stops breathing for some reason, the VP takes over). But emotions override logic, my good friend's MUNDAGIRI (stubborness) barely waned.
Eventuality it was the turn of another fresh face, Barrack Obama to win that election. But it vindicated one thing - America's fascination towards a new face. Trump is a product of that, though this time it's different. The phenomena called Donald Trump has trumped all logic and everybody. Love him or hate him, can't ignore him - for he has changed the entire dynamics of the Presidential politics this year.
Unlike Sarah Palin who fizzled out too soon, Trump phoenix keeps on rising from ash when every pundit thinks he is done, dusted. Like a Helium filled balloon he keeps on climbing. The Trump juggernaut is chugging ahead, with no sign to stop.
Politics is a game of mind. It is an art to plant the seeds of doubt in the minds of electorates regarding your opponents, by defining him before he defines himself to the voters. Trump has successfully done this to his opponents. He defined Jeb Bush as "someone low on energy". Politics is a matter of perception, with this definition he made look Jeb Bush who spoke with long monologues on debates, look drab and boring, with his $150 million chest not withstanding.
Trump's branding of Rubio as diminutive from top to bottom worked against Rubio both literally and figuratively. Verbal punches flew between them, but Trump was the one who came out as winner, as he was able to connect to audience to perceive Rubio the way he wanted them to.
Trump has won the battle not the war. Fighting republican opponents and the presumed Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton will not be the same thing. It's high time for him to tone down his rhetorics, if he really has a shot at winning his cherished dream. Otherwise, barring some major terror strike on American soil, a catastrophic economic slump and Hillary Clinton caught in the web of a major scandal - America will see its first Woman President.
In the meantime I have seen a few posts on social media, proclaiming Trump as the harbinger of death to American democracy. With due respect to their knowledge about American politics - little knowledge drawn from couple of websites to substantiate such views can be a dangerous.
Such remarks are widely off the mark. One swallow doesn't make a summer, a judgement based upon a few websites is not the gospel - can be extremely flawed. Reports of scuffles at Trump rallies doesn't suggest an imminent collapse of American political system. Such premonitions are highly premature and preposterous.
US is a matured democracy. This is not 1968 campaign season when Martin Luther King and the Democratic front runner Robert Kennedy, the charismatic brother of JFK were assassinated during the peak primary season. It was also marres by violent anti-Vietnam war and Civil right protests. Nor American democracy collapsed in 1972 when there was virtually a riot at the Democratic convention.
America has traveled through those tumultuous times and will survive for times to come. I am not saying this as a clairvoyant or astrologer, but because its fundamentals are pretty strong. Only a house with a strong foundation is expected to withstanding rough weather, and I am sure America will.
The election year of 2008 was special in its own way. In the fag end of a faltering and frustrating Bush era, amist a collapsing economy, the charismatic Barack Obama was solicitating the electorates with his sales pitch of "Hope and Change we can believe in".
Desperate to regain his fast sinking poll numbers, his opponent the maverick John McCain took a calculated risk by nominating a lesser known Governor from Alaska as his running mate - Sarah Palin. The lady's sudden arrival at the national political scene had an electrifying effect, soon catching the imagination of American public. It helped McCain to surge temporarily, pulling from behind to take a slight lead over Obama.
To a friend of mine, a highly paid brilliant techie who drove a swanky SUV but a typical MUNDA (an Odia term depicting a stubborn guy) - she was an Angel from heaven, a Star born with a magic wand to tackle the issues of contemporary America. He felt Sarah Palin had all it takes to take the country out of doldrums at a time Dow Jones numbers was collapsing like a pack of cards. The reason he gave - look at her speech, her energy. Her body language tells me she can fix our problem just like that.
It's another matter that Sarah Palin not only didn't know the answers to the issues - often she didn't understand the questions. It was dangerous for such a person to be a breath away from the most powerful position on surface of earth (if the President stops breathing for some reason, the VP takes over). But emotions override logic, my good friend's MUNDAGIRI (stubborness) barely waned.
Eventuality it was the turn of another fresh face, Barrack Obama to win that election. But it vindicated one thing - America's fascination towards a new face. Trump is a product of that, though this time it's different. The phenomena called Donald Trump has trumped all logic and everybody. Love him or hate him, can't ignore him - for he has changed the entire dynamics of the Presidential politics this year.
Unlike Sarah Palin who fizzled out too soon, Trump phoenix keeps on rising from ash when every pundit thinks he is done, dusted. Like a Helium filled balloon he keeps on climbing. The Trump juggernaut is chugging ahead, with no sign to stop.
Politics is a game of mind. It is an art to plant the seeds of doubt in the minds of electorates regarding your opponents, by defining him before he defines himself to the voters. Trump has successfully done this to his opponents. He defined Jeb Bush as "someone low on energy". Politics is a matter of perception, with this definition he made look Jeb Bush who spoke with long monologues on debates, look drab and boring, with his $150 million chest not withstanding.
Trump's branding of Rubio as diminutive from top to bottom worked against Rubio both literally and figuratively. Verbal punches flew between them, but Trump was the one who came out as winner, as he was able to connect to audience to perceive Rubio the way he wanted them to.
Trump has won the battle not the war. Fighting republican opponents and the presumed Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton will not be the same thing. It's high time for him to tone down his rhetorics, if he really has a shot at winning his cherished dream. Otherwise, barring some major terror strike on American soil, a catastrophic economic slump and Hillary Clinton caught in the web of a major scandal - America will see its first Woman President.
In the meantime I have seen a few posts on social media, proclaiming Trump as the harbinger of death to American democracy. With due respect to their knowledge about American politics - little knowledge drawn from couple of websites to substantiate such views can be a dangerous.
Such remarks are widely off the mark. One swallow doesn't make a summer, a judgement based upon a few websites is not the gospel - can be extremely flawed. Reports of scuffles at Trump rallies doesn't suggest an imminent collapse of American political system. Such premonitions are highly premature and preposterous.
US is a matured democracy. This is not 1968 campaign season when Martin Luther King and the Democratic front runner Robert Kennedy, the charismatic brother of JFK were assassinated during the peak primary season. It was also marres by violent anti-Vietnam war and Civil right protests. Nor American democracy collapsed in 1972 when there was virtually a riot at the Democratic convention.
America has traveled through those tumultuous times and will survive for times to come. I am not saying this as a clairvoyant or astrologer, but because its fundamentals are pretty strong. Only a house with a strong foundation is expected to withstanding rough weather, and I am sure America will.
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