I was planning to hold off on this post until Friday, but the election has become such a hot topic, I honestly couldn’t wait. With anti-Trump protests across the country, I wanted to get the perspective of one of the first bloggers to appear on my radar.
Back in 2005/06, he made a regular appearances on Matthew Good‘s political blog. He is by all accounts, one of the earliest bloggers of my recollection and still maintains posts on his Busblog site. He’s also a lifelong Cubs fan, so I already liked him a lot.
Last night, on a whim, I decided to reach out and see if he’d join me in a Q and A session. Thankfully, he obliged.
His answers are warm, candid and as always, refreshingly entertaining.
I’m incredibly excited to welcome, Tony Pierce.
Photo credit, Tony’s mom (pictured here at legendary Cub announcer Harry Caray’s grave)
Q: Firstly, this election is obviously a hot button topic. I did a bit of research, and from your posts, I’m deducing you’re a fan of Obama’s style of politics. How do you think the government would’ve been shaped, had Hillary been elected last night?
Tony Pierce: I have no idea how the government would have been shaped if vote of the majority of the United States had been counted instead of this antiquated Electoral College nonsense. When longtime Senators like John McCain said that the GOP would have blocked anything that she sent to them, you take him at his word. So it may have been years of unprofessional gridlock, or perhaps she would have been able to figure out how to work with the Republicans. One reason I liked Obama, was because he had very (little) cooperation from the Right – unprecedented cockblocking – and yet his list of accomplishments are impressive.
Q: As a Canadian (I live in Ottawa, currently) we only get a small overview of things, how is the overall mood in California, a typically Democratic leaning state?
TP: I can’t speak for all of California – from what I understand there are as many people here as there are in all of Canada – but in my little circle, people were incredibly glum and judging from the protests in NYC, Chicago, Seattle, Portland and downtown LA, the feeling is mutual.
Q: How do you think Bernie Sanders would’ve faired in comparison to Hillary Clinton, had he been selected as the Democratic candidate instead?
TP: Bernie was a fascinating candidate. I gave him some money and there’s a cute poster of his image over my bed. So I am biased, probably, when I think he would have brought out more young people. Hillary has had haters ever since she said on 60 Minutes in 1992 that if Bill (Clinton) gets elected she wouldn’t be the type of first lady who sits around baking cookies and having tea parties. Bernie doesn’t have that sort of hate. But he is a Socialist and a Jew, which would have made other people uptight.
Q: What do you think the future (politically, or otherwise) holds for Hillary Clinton?
TP: I think Hillary will be a very popular public speaker where she will make a lot of money. Hopefully she will write a book about what it was like running against a game show host with no political experience. Although maybe she wants to just forget the whole nightmare.
Q: How can we rationalize the popular vote vs Electorals, when majority of people voted for Hillary, but based on key states (Florida, Ohio, Michigan, etc) Trump won? Is the election process flawed, in your opinion. And if so, what changes would you implement given the opportunity to improve the system.?
TP: I hate the Electoral College. People in California, for example, don’t feel the urgency to vote because the state overwhelmingly votes for Democrats, therefore the only thing you can say you really affected are local props and local politicians. The news refuses to instill this fascinating fact: 7 of the last GOP presidential candidates lost the popular vote. That includes our soon-to-be Commander in Chief. How is that a democracy? How does that inspire people to spend hours of their day to stand in line and cast a ballot. My vote here in Hollywood was far less powerful than someone’s in Florida or Ohio. How is that fair? It would be very easy to get rid of the Electoral College, the states just need to change their laws. If the majority do it, then all will be well. (http://www.nationalpopularvote.com/)
Q: What do you think will be Barack Obama’s greatest achievement once he leaves office?
TP: There’s a lot to choose from. Killing (Osama) Bin Laden was pretty good. Obamacare was a great first step to health care reform. Normalizing Cuba was pretty key. Getting us out of a nasty Recession was something that the entire globe benefited from because all markets freaked out when the US market was tanking. But to me his biggest accomplishment was to show that a black man could do the job well and do it with class, dignity and intelligence. He is the Jackie Robinson of US Presidents and he was one of our all time best ones. And the FLOTUS is a Top 10 FLOTUS. Any one who considers themselves a minority can be inspired by the Obamas showing that not only could they do it as well as their white counterparts, but in many ways they did it better.
Q: Alternately, what was his biggest failure?
TP: Obama’s biggest failure was he waited too long to start campaigning for Hillary. He, Michelle, Beyonce and Springsteen should have been on a month-long tour getting out the vote. Now with early voting it’s somewhat worthless to have a huge concert a day before Election Day.
Q: And finally, a non political question. As a life long Detroit Tigers fan (my hometown, London, was the farm team while I was growing up), and having been too young to remember when they won their last World Series in 1984, what sort of wisdom/reassurance can you impart after seeing your Cubs finally win a World Series?
TP: The lesson of the Cubs winning the World Series is better told from the perspective of Cleveland. No one was talking about the Indians at the beginning of the season. Everyone was talking about Baltimore, NY and Toronto in the AL and Cleveland overcame injuries and picked up Andrew Miller and dominated in the playoffs. Then they took the Cubs to 7 games and extra innings. The Cubs were loaded with talent, the manager of the year, hot rookies, a Cy Young and an MVP. And still it took them extra innings and a rain delay to win it all. So to me, Detroit can rest assured knowing they don’t have to be America’s team to win it all, they just need a good manager, a few good pitchers and a(n) offence that can score 5 runs a game. Sadly the Cubs will be super dominant over the next 5 years so good luck getting past them in October. 🙂
Media Spin 