And the loser is….

Here’s an election prediction you can take to the bank: Somebody is going to lose on Tuesday!

Since our recent polling options, irregularities and media-fueled speculations have largely eroded confidence in American elections, I should amend my predictive line to replace the phrase, “on Tuesday” with this qualifier:

Somebody is going to lose whenever all the votes have been counted, and protests over election fraud have been sorted out by the armies of lawyers and judges who will undoubtedly be summoned to sort through our electoral mess.

And in anticipation of a possible January 6, 2021 encore, perhaps a disclamatory coda should also be ready to be added:

And then, after all the outcry and tantrums and protests from the losing candidate and his/her faithful have modulated to little more than a persistent yet annoying whine running in the background of every news broadcast and political talk show, maybe then we can return to some semblance of national normalcy.

How long this will take is anybody’s guess. But I suspect a level of uproar will continue to stir long after our next president, whomever that is, has taken the oath of office and processed to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to begin what is likely to be a contentious four years in office. My, that’s quite a downer on the eve of this oh so important election.  I agree, but since I like to call ‘em as I see ‘em, its the best I’ve got right now.  And I don’t think I’m alone in harboring such feelings.

Any way we try to spin this year’s election, this much seems inevitable: we will all have to deal with a BIG loser in the near future. The days when a Dewey, a Nixon, or a Gore would graciously concede defeat after a very close loss in a highly contested campaign now seem unbelievable in our historical near-sightedness. Nonetheless,  someone does have to lose. And in the hours, days, or weeks in which this election will ultimately be decided, someone will lose.  But who will that be?

It goes without saying that Mr. Biden, the incumbent, has already lost. His abrupt and apparently well-choreographed side-step from the presidential spotlight to lame-duck obscurity was both unprecedented and un-presidential. Now he is left to look on while the VP he has anointed tries to walk a tightrope that even the great Karl Wallenda* would have found challenging. But she is pulling it off, or so it seems. She has mastered the campaign acrobatics of  talking out of both sides of her mouth in declaring that “I can’t think of a thing I’d change…” about my role in the current administration.  Yet in the same breath she confidently assures voters that she is “the candidate for change…” putting some distance between herself and the president whom she has faithfully endorsed and served these past four years.  One can only wonder whether enough voters will buy what this political changeling is selling to tip the electoral college scale in her favor.

Or will Mr. Trump, who in certain religious circles is revered as a political incarnation of the One who is, was, and is to come, actually end up a loser once again? Never one to shy away from speaking from both sides of his mouth and from any bodily orafice that will command an audience’s attention, he remains as energizing and convincing to some as he is terrifying and embarrassing to others. From his bombastic claims to greatness to his threats against all enemies, from his off-color allusions to dead celebrity’s genitals to his promises to end wars and usher in golden ages of peace and prosperity, Mr. Trump continues to astound and confound as he tirelessly makes his plea to be called back on stage for an encore performance as our commander-in-chief. But will there be enough ballot strength among his MAGA legions to offset the considerable force of never-Trumpers in both parties as well as in that considerable cohort who stand outside of any party and are now weary of his braggadocio and skeptical of his competency? Undeterred, he continues to posture and stride, meander and stumble into his ninth decade of life, proving that, at least in this election, one candidates liability can be another’s asset.

As I assess this most important but divisive campaign, I find myself nodding in agreement with Washington Post columnist and champion of conservatism, George Will, who last Friday wrote: “voters face the worst presidential choice in U.S. History.”  And if that is true, then I would venture to say that every one of us, from the candidates themselves, to their parties, the media:  all who are invested in and affected by the outcome of the election are, in fact…

Running scared? How can that be since they command such large crowds at their rallies, stoking their confidence of electoral victory. Yet under the veneer of their public face which they work so hard to fashion, they must be hounded by two questions that keep them on edge:

• What if I actually win? How will I ever begin to cash all of the promissory notes I’ve so freely written with campaign rhetoric that no one would ever be able to fulfill? Will my personal and professional liabilities empower me to become an effective leader of our country or open me to constant criticism, second-guessing, and embarrassment? Will I be able to rise to the domestic and international challenges and threats our nation now faces, or will I be exposed as someone unequal to the enormous task at hand in keeping our country safe and prosperous in such an unstable global climate?

• But what if I lose?  What will this do to my reputation, my self-esteem, my prospects for the future? Will I be finished as a relevant political figure? Will those who have supported me turn and run, selling their tell-alls to the highest bidder to discredit what I’ve tried to do and give my enemies fuel to gloat over my demise? Will my opponent use his or her position to persecute me or will I suffer the worst fate of all: irrelevancy? Will history remember me as a notable leader who advanced the country’s interests and welfare, or will I be consigned to the ranks of those whom future generations revile as frauds and failures?

Appearances notwithstanding, both Trump and Harris are running scared.  Don’t doubt it for a minute. And they are not alone. Their respective parties are also scared, as well they should be. How many of them will lose their seats in trying to ride on coat-tails that can’t support the weight of their collective liabilities? Should they win, how will they function as a Congress if they find themselves in the minority, or get lost among the disparate factions that have created a non-compromising climate of legislative paralysis?

I can well imagine the media, too, is more scared than we might expect. With few networks hiding their partisan sympathies, quite a few stand to suffer losses in trust and respect that will be reflected in lower ratings and shrinking advertising dollars.  And what of the glut of bloggers, podcasters, and radio propagandists who are about to be shown to be wrong in their guesstimates about who Americans of every gender, age, ethnicity and race really favor and are bound to support? And then there are the newspapers, America’s once-vital bastion of the free press, who may choose to hasten their own demise depending on whom they endorse, or emulate the aforementioned Washington Post by sitting this one out. Perhaps the greatest losers of all will be the pollsters whose daily pulse-taking of the American electorate—so eagerly quoted by media talking heads—raises as many questions and doubts about the validity of their data-gathering methods.  With so much at stake, there may be even more to lose!

As I type the last few lines of this essay I’m glad I’m not running.  But that doesn’t mean I’m not scared. I’m scared for our country, both now and into a future that my children and grandchildren will hopefully still be able to enjoy and thrive. But finding neither of these presidential aspirants to be ideally qualified to be our president, I fear for what the next four years has in store for us. How will either of them try to bring sanity and restraint to a world that appears hell-bent on a global war between 21st century allies and axis opponents? What kind of direction can or will either of them give to managing an immigration crisis that has defied effective solutions for at least four decades? Will either be able to salve the open wounds of racism, homelessness, crime and addiction that so tear at the fabric of our nation, or will they end up pouring gasoline onto already burning fires of discontent and dysfunction? Will either of them be able to move us constructively into a future in which climate upheavals and economic cycles will have enormous impacts on national and global security? With so much at stake for all of us, we have a right to be scared, and this year’s presidential options don’t do much to mitigate that fear and uncertainty, at least not for me.

It has been a long and wearisome presidential campaign, whose end is now mercifully in sight. In two days the last tranche of votes that can be cast will have been gathered in. When they’ll all be counted, certified, contested and accepted by each candidate remains to be seen.  If you’re like me, you’re looking forward to a cessation of political hostilities for a season and a break from campaign propaganda that is as duplicitous as it is mind-numbing. My prayer is that, whomever ultimately wins or loses, a spirit of conciliation and cooperation may wash over us to cleanse us from the stain of ill-will and division that this election has fostered. In that hope I turn to the wisdom of a commander in chief who, more than we will ever know nor fully appreciate, understood the real cost of winning and losing.

“With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds…to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves.”  

From Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address, March 4, 1865

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*Karl Wallenda was the founder and lead performer of a high-wire walking troup known as the Flying Wallendas, who’s three-tired, seven-person pyramids entertained circus audiences for years both in Europe and the United States. Karl ultimately fell to his death at the age of 73 while attempting a walk between towers of a 10-story building in San Juan, Puerto Rico.