The first Presidential Debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton was the most watched political debate ever. It had an estimated 84 million viewers tuning in to watch the first of three titanic showdowns between the candidates. Moderated by Lester Holt, both candidates had moments where they shined brightly and instances when they fell flat. Donald Trump struggled to answer questions about his tax returns, business history, and foreign policy plans. Hillary Clinton appeared weak when cast as an establishment politician and when defending her past support for now-unpopular trade deals.
Much has been made of who won the debate, and how the contest will affect voter opinion in battleground states. But in my mind, there was no real winner and one true loser: the American people.
For 240 years, Americans have thought about the future of their country. We have persevered through times of trial and uncertainty, building one of the most powerful nations the world has ever seen. The name of the United States sends shudders through dictators and oppressors around the world, while inspiring hope the millions of impoverished people everywhere.
And yet, in the 2016 election, the American people are faced with the unenviable task of electing either Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, two of the least likeable nominees of all time. We’ve heard arguments about immigration, foreign policy, terrorism, race relations, emails, trade deals, temperament, and honesty. But what we haven’t seen or heard from the candidates is their vision for America. Neither Hillary or Donald has been able to articulate a coherent picture of what they want the country to look like at 2020. Instead, they pander to opinion polls and hotheads, forming policies that conform to what the people want instead of what the country needs.
This clear lack of a vision is typical of most politicians. It’s not a bad thing either. At their very core, politicians are elected to represent their constituents, which entails changing policies and governing strategy to suit public opinion. Good politicians, like Hillary Clinton, will change their views and proposals over time to ensure reelection. Some call it a disturbing lack of principles, but I see it as adjusting to the times. So I’m not surprised that Clinton’s policy proposals, however well thought out, are not really hers; instead adaptations of party goals and smash hits from polarizing figures like Bernie Sanders.
Donald Trump’s lack of a vision surprises me. Good businessmen usually have a clear direction and goals for their companies, and Trump is very clearly a good businessman. Yet, I see nothing in his policies. Sure, “Make America Great Again” is a catchy slogan, able to arouse strong emotions in his supporters but it lacks direction, policy proposals, and an achievable goal. Trump has been able to cover for that by hiding behind catch phrases and voter anger. However, he can’t hide from it as President, and his lack of an answer on cyber-security and inability to provide an alternative to the Iran nuclear deal serve as a disturbing reminder that behind all the show and salesmanship, Trump has no coherent vision forward for America.
Leadership demands a vision. The President of the United States is one of the most powerful people in the world, able to command the strongest military and largest economy. The next President will have to tackle an increasing dangerous world, dealing with ISIS, a migrant crisis, Russian intervention, Chinese expansion, economic uncertainty, and racial tension. To move America forward, we need our leaders to have clear plans, with achievable goals and an eye towards the future. In this first debate, that leadership was nonexistent.
Was education even mentioned? To be competitive in a globalized economy, our workers need to be smarter, more creative and more efficient than ever before. These advancements will only come through a better education system than the one we currently have. Our people and our leaders need to realize that 39th is NOT good enough when it comes to the future of the American workforce. Aside from Hillary’s free college catch phrase, we heard no mention of how our next President will tackle the rising cost of higher education, the decline in vocational training, and unequal opportunities for low-income children. Not a word.
Surprisingly, that wasn’t the only problem that our leaders had no plans to address. The rising burden of the national debt poses a drastic challenge for the next generation of Americans. The inability of Congress to agree on a comprehensive deficit-reduction plan (or anything else) leaves that enormous task to the President. Clinton and Trump have barely brushed the subject of the national debt, instead choosing to tout their tax plans as a method of covering up spending increases. Neither would-be-president has any sort of idea on how to proceed, and I’m confident neither has the guts to propose, much less enact, the drastic measures necessary to make our government fiscally responsible again.
Our candidates’ lack of vision was especially prominent during the discussion on race relations. Trump sought to cast himself clearly as the “law and order” candidate. Clinton juxtaposed herself by offering a stream of talking points that, while more coherent than Trump’s rambling, lacked a precise end goal. Neither spoke of the importance of change from within, a tactic that seeks to improve police relations by hiring officers who represent the demographics of the community. Neither spoke of increased transparency, of improving the quality and accessibility of body camera footage from crime scenes. Trump’s law and order strategy panders to his narrow base of conservative voters, who have no respect for anyone or anything that comes into conflict with the police. Clinton sought to bridge the divide between the police and the community, but failed to designate a clear end goal. In essence, our candidates presented either narrow-minded or open-ended strategies that fail to objectively work towards a goal.
What is Aleppo? It seems that Lester Holt, Hillary Clinton, and Donald Trump all managed to pull a Gary Johnson and completely forget about the Syrian war, the associated humanitarian crisis and the consequences it has had on the global economy and politics. It was never mentioned. The closest the candidates got was a brief sparring match over ISIS and the Iran deal. But the would-be Presidents missed a chance to articulate their policies and their long-term goals for ending the war. There was no discussion on the problems Russian involvement poses for the region, the continued atrocity of ISIS terrorists, or the Assad government’s propensity for using chemical weapons and barrel bombs against his own people.
On the subject of foreign policy, there was no talk of Asia, aside from Trump’s repeated nonsense about China. Barack Obama’s Pivot to Asia, the strategic redeployment of American military and economic resources to Asian countries, was one of the most visionary foreign policy moves of the century. President Obama realized the powerful potential of countries like China and India, and began a process to build lasting economic and military relations that, if continued, will allow the U.S. to remain a factor in the region for decades. Clinton and Trump had the chance to show voters that they have the foresight that Obama had, to propose greater cooperation between the U.S. and India or to persuade Japan to become more of a military factor in the region. Nope. Instead, all we got was “countries should pay us for their defense.” Great soundbite right? But a forward-thinking policy? Nope.
You might be asking why I haven’t discussed subjects such as free trade, terrorism, or immigration. My answer is simple: they aren’t the future problems of the United States.
Free trade is essential to the global economy. If America attempts to renegotiate or leave trade deals, we will see a global economic downturn the likes of which haven’t occurred since the Depression. Once this occurs, American politicians and the general public will back free trade again.
Terrorism will always exist, just in different forms. Terrorist attacks must always be guarded against, but the American security apparatus will move fast enough to keep up with those who seek to spread fear. Defeating terrorism will never occur on the battlefield, instead taking place in the hearts and minds of those affected. Our leaders will eventually figure that out.
Immigration is vital to the global economy, and an integral part of the history of America. Anti-immigrant policies will only lose us friends globally and hurt our economy. Eventually, the Republican party will get that through their heads.
Don’t get me wrong, issues such as these are important. They demand action, and the American people crave results: I am confident that we will get to the end goal eventually. However, thinking of the bigger global picture is necessary when considering who to elect our next President. 25 years in the future, nobody will champion the wall as a pivotal point in the history of the United States. No one will care that someone deleted 30,000 emails or had shady business dealings. Instead, the history books will praise the intrepid leader who sought to reform American education and reinvent government on the principle of fiscal responsibility, thereby saving us from falling over a precipice from which there is no return. They will showcase the leaders who negotiated a peace treaty in Syria and stabilized the humanitarian situation in the Middle East. America needs politicians who seek solutions, instead of moaning about problems.
Our attitude as a society was on the debate stage on September 26. I think it showed a clear lack of forward thinking by the American electorate and leadership. I think it showed an America that is consumed with problems, instead of focusing on solutions. I think we saw an America that lacks direction, an America slowly ripping in two along partisan lines that refuse to budge. I know we saw an America without a vision.
“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” - Steve Jobs
