The RNC And DNC Are Over. What now?

The biggest political parties of the United States have chosen their presidential candidates. The Democratic National Convention has chosen Hillary Clinton and The Republican National Convention chose Donald Trump. These two candidates are on both sides of the spectrum and are as different as two people can be. In the next coming months, this will be one of the biggest races to the White House.  The Quintessential Gentleman asked Dana W. White her thoughts on the candidates to get a better picture on the future of the country.

1. In your opinion what will a Clinton Presidency look like?

Another Clinton Administration will be like Groundhog Day. Although Hillary Clinton has been in the public eye and intimately involved in politics for more than 25 years, she’s failed to articulate a clear vision of America’s future with her at the helm.  It’s unclear how she will improve upon President Obama’s achievements and further advance the Democratic agenda.  After all, Hillary Clinton has been dragged kicking and screaming to the left by Sen. Bernie Sanders.  Her new mantle to break the banks and provide free or practically free college tuition and eschew globalization is not consistent with who she has professed to be for the past 25 years, a conservative and pragmatic Democrat who supported the war in Iraq and stiffer penalties with the Crime Bill of 1994. A law, that 22 years later, has resulted in more than double the federal prison population and disproportionately incarcerated black men.

Clinton also supported ramping up the previous Republican Administrations’ War on Drug by creating more punitive sentencing guidelines for the sales of crack cocaine compared to the distribution of powder cocaine that was more often used and distributed by affluent whites and carried lighter sentences.  I think her administration, especially her closest advisers, may still suffer the consequences of the email server controversy.  Moreover, Republicans and the Clintons have a love hate relationship.  Republicans love to hate the Clintons and the Clintons love to make Republicans fall on their swords going after them.

2. In your opinion what will a Trump Presidency look like?

Bumpy. A Trump Administration has the potential to leave too many Republicans cringing and embarrassed. And those that did not wholeheartedly support Trump in the primaries or general elections are in danger of being left out in the cold. A Trump Presidency could be incredibly ineffectual, because he lacks the relationships in Washington necessary to make things happen.   Commander-in-Chief is not CEO-in-Chief.  Politics is a team sport and there’s no “I” in team.  Donald Trump would do well to learn this lesson now.

3. Are the American people ready for a woman president? I think the American people are ready for a woman president.  I just don’t know if America is ready for Hillary Clinton to be the first woman president.  Hillary struggles to win the support of millennials and Generation X women.  Ever since 1992 when Hillary Clinton declared that she was no Tammy Wynette, she’s been a lightning rod for what it means to be a woman, a wife, and a mother.  If it were not for the obvious character flaws and antics of Donald Trump, I don’t think Hillary would have a chance of being America’s first female president.  I think for too many men, especially those in “Rust Belt” states, believe President Hillary Clinton would mean the death of masculinity.  Men aren’t ready for it, and frankly, neither are women.

4. What can a president with no political background bring to the United States?

I think a president with little or no political background or experience, much like President Obama, will talk about the things politicos don’t.  President Obama talked about America healing its racial wounds.  No presidential candidate had ever made that a part of the platform or ambitions, especially at a time when there was no crisis, like the 1968 riots.  A president who has not been groomed by the lobbyists, consultants and policy wonks provides a fresh perspective and can apply some basic, dinner table common sense, that has been absent from Washington for decades on both sides of the aisle.

Donald Trump is far from perfect, but he thinks and talks, yes talks, like a lot of Americans—who don’t understand why calling out illegal immigration makes you a racist or believing that we need to aggressively go after ISIS whose sympathizers have killed Americans and our allies, an enemy many perceive has not suffered the deadly and awesome wrath of the America people. Americans want their mojo back and no on in Washington can spell “mojo” let alone exercise it.

5. What will the next couple of months look like in regards to the race to the White House?

Messy. This will be the messiest, ugliest, and lowest-brow presidential election since Republican James Blaine accused Democrat Grover Cleveland of fathering an unwed woman’s child in 1884.  I hope that over the next few months Americans take a long hard look in the mirror and ask ourselves: What did I do to deserve these presidential choices? We have no excuse.  This is not a monarchy, an oligarchy or a dictatorship.  This is a democracy and we choose these people over and over again.  We choose to sit back and let others become demagogues before our own eyes.  We choose these people to represent our priorities and our values.

So regardless of who wins this November, I hope we decide to reconsider the criteria for which we select our leaders. In the future, I hope we will encourage and reward people who communicate a broad, inclusive vision of the future, who consider public service an honor not a stepping stone, and relish the opportunity to empower others to succeed.  The next few months should be about deciding whether America is going to produce leaders who inspire us to even greater heights or just a bunch of narcissists who ride the wave until our ultimate demise.  The choice is ours.

About Dana W. White 

Dana W. White has been a speechwriter and adviser to CEOs of three Global Fortune 500 companies, two U.S. Senators, two four-star generals, a deputy undersecretary of defense and a U.S. governor. She is the founder and CEO of 1055 Grady, a leadership consulting firm in Washington, D.C., and has worked on three continents in three different languages.

White served as the Director of Policy and Strategic Communications for the Renault-Nissan Alliance, as a Foreign Policy Adviser for Senator John McCain (R-AZ), and as the Taiwan Country Director in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. She graduated from the University of Chicago with a degree in East Asian Languages and Civilizations. White currently resides in Washington, D.C. and Paris, France and speaks Mandarin Chinese and French fluently.

Leader Designed: Become the Leader You Were Meant to Be will be available on Amazon and at brick and mortar stores across America.

Learn more about Dana W. White at www.danawwhite.com. Connect with her on Twitter @LeaderDesigned and Facebook at Leader Designed.

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