The Hangover That Won't Quit

You wake up and there is something wrong. You feel like you were drinking the night before. A heaviness that pulls you down. A dark cloud on your soul. What the hell was in that drink? And then your head clears and you realize that you didn't drink a thing. You went to bed early not believing the television. Like a thunderclap it comes to you and you don't quite believe it. Not really. Maybe a bad dream but no... it is true.

You go back to the thousand conversations. All those hours watching debates. Your remember thinking that at least it was good television and that eventually the serious candidates would take over. But then there was that night. You just stared at the television and watched the walls fall down. It was like a virus taking over the electoral map. How could all that red subsume all that blue. But it did.

Finally you could watch no more. You woke hoping that somehow someway it was a mistake. No the electoral college had done in America. The popular vote told the tale but it didn't matter. The  man who no one could fathom ever getting close to the presidency had just been elected. You might as well start drinking because the four year hangover has just begun.

Better get some ice.

Madam President The Secret Presidency of Edith Wilson

Madam President Will Need a New Deal

FDR put through the New Deal because he knew the country was about to go into revolution. Doug McArthur had fired on the Bonus Army marchers and there were people who said capitalism didn't work for the many and the Russians had the right idea. Communism was more equitable. Even manufacturing understood this and one of their motivations for giving the Chicago Worlds Fair of 1933 millions of dollars and showcasing their goods was to get the country buying again and to keep it from going "Bolshevik".

The Brits just took a turn to the hard right. Not unlike what the Germans did when a paper hanger failed art student giving speeches in beer halls told them the Jews were to blame for their economic woes and he would give them back their pride and their country. And we have the Donald aping that paper hanger and promising to restore America back to her place. Close the borders and batten down the hatches and the jobs will return.

It doesnt matter if he is wrong Madam President has to recognize the  boat is top heavy and go bold with  New Deal type of programs to get people to not go down Britain's path. There is too much money at the top and it has drained the middle class. The great irony is a man worth ten billion dollars is claiming he can right the ship. A thousand families could live on his fortune for years. If he really wants to make America great, he could give back all that money. Short of that, Madam President should take a page from FDR and take note of a Britain that is no longer Great.

Madam President The Secret Presidency of Edith Wilson

What Edith Wilson Could Tell Madam President

First Edith would tell Madam President don't do it. It nearly killed her. Then Edith would say if you are going to be President then don't listen to the men. Edith had all the men telling her to take over after President Wilson had a stroke and then they didn't tell her what was going on or how to run the White House. They basically told her to take responsibility for blocking Vice President Marshall so they could keep their jobs. So that is the first thing, bring in some women to help you.

Then if you get overwhelmed just handle the crisis. Edith had to handle finishing up World War I and the fight for the League of Nations. There were lots of other issues but Edith who had only three years schooling and some on the job training with the President had to go with her gut instinct a lot of times. So she concentrated on the two biggest crisis, keep her husband alive and fight for his dream of a League of Nations. Everything else delegated or threw into a pile and let the archivist sort it out fifty years later.

Finally don't listen to anyone but yourself. When the doctors told Edith they had to operate on her husband or he would die she vetoed them and said let nature take its course. Her husband survived. Or when everyone wanted to tell the President to compromise on the League and she alone stood between him and the doubters. Or when she signed bills and fought back against Senator Lodge and everyone who wanted to prove she was really the President.

After that just make it up as you go and stick to your guns, Madam President. It worked for me.

Madam President