If only we could lease Daniel Hannan to serve here--oh well...
But we can pay heed to him.
Donald Trump has become the master at expressing and harnessing the free-floating anger of a great portion of American society. He's really really really good at his craft.
But OS observes this: Great performers and writers are great because they are really really really good at that craft. Why do people buy tickets to hear a favorite performer--likely because that person says what the purchaser wishes he possessed the ability to express himself. Think of James Taylor, Paul Simon, Elton John, Billy Joel, Sting, Beyonce, The Beatles...playwrights such as Neil Simon...actors such as Tom Hanks or Al Pacino or Meryl Streep. We identify because they tell us our own stories, and we all have our own list of favorites. They are valuable and wonderful, but for the most part do not do well at Being In Charge Of Things. They hire managers!
True, Trump is successful in the business of being The Donald, and leveraging it to huge advantage. But this job, The Presidency, may not fit him well.
It is important that someone give voice to the great frustrations that now beset us, and for that--if nothing else--Donald Trump has become a seriously important figure in the culture, and hats off to him.
That does not mean he will make a good President. Does he, as DanHan urges, offer Something Better? OS is not convinced he does, past his ability to articulate anger at this point in history. He may be our modern William Jennings Bryan, who never won the office, but still made a significant impact upon the culture.
OS urges his readers to read Daniel Hannan's essay and then quietly consider what life could look like with Dr. Ben Carson at the helm.
Carson is one of the most successful neurosurgeons in history, which means he has a vigorous intellect, a well-disciplined intellect, and no shortage of courage. Would you be willing to spend your workdays drilling into skulls and spines, knowing even a small mishap could ruin the patient's life?
He knows to how to look at dreadful problems and craft solutions to them. He knows to assemble and work with teams of bright people. He knows that his decisions affect many lives for good and ill. He knows how to think long-term. He knows that, as well as he may prepare, once the patient is opened up, he may have to adjust his plans in accordance with the reality that confronts him. He knows there is a God, and Ben Carson is not Him. He knows that science matters.
He also knows how to deliver really bad news, when what the patient and family most desperately wish to hear is good news. Some patients die, even with the best surgeons on the job. The next President will need that particular ability, OS cautions, as the chickens of the past fifty years or so truly come home to roost.
OS believes Ben Carson offers Something Better, which is why he sends what shekels he can in the good doctor's direction.
As valuable a voice as Donald Trump is, OS is not at all certain he is our best option.
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