It's Not That Simple, Stupid!

"It's the economy, stupid!" is what James Carville said in a meeting to then Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton's presidential campaign staff during the 1992 Presidential campaign.  That phrase has had a lasting legacy in political lore because it perfectly captured the mood of the American electorate during that campaign cycle where the United States was in a recession and 64% of Americans disapproved of President Bush's job performance.   It was the perfect phrase for the perfect time.   I would like to flatter Carville through imitation by offering a slightly different version of his message to my fellow Americans during this presidential campaign; It's not that simple, stupid! 

While watching the debate Monday night between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, it hit me why Donald Trump is doing so well in the polls.   To put it bluntly, he's simple.   He's a simple man.  He likes beautiful women, big buildings, and lots of money.   He lies constantly because some people believe him.   He routinely insults large groups of people in generalities.   He says Mexico is sending rapists to America although he supposes some of them are good people.   He says African Americans can't walk down the streets in their neighborhoods without being shot.   He calls women fat and ugly.   He talks about Marco Rubio being Little Marco.   He calls Elizabeth Warren Pocohantas.   He calls Ted Cruz Lyin Ted.  He calls Jebb Bush Low Energy Jeb.     He says no one will vote for Carly Fiorina because nobody wants to look at her face.   If I told you all of these things had come from a first grader you would not be surprised because we expect first graders to be simple.   But this came from one of the two major candidates for the Presidency of the United States.   And current polls show that half the electorate plans on voting for this very simple man.   The reason, half of America has become very simple. 

His solutions for Americans are also simple.   To stop the Mexican rapists from coming over he would simply build a wall.  To stop terrorists from entering the country he would simply ban Muslims from coming into the country.  To stop the press from reporting unflattering stories about him he would simply strengthen our libel laws.   To get the economy back on track he would simply negotiate better trade deals.  If NATO countries weren't current on their payments he would simply not defend them if attacked.  If an Iranian battleship taunted one of our Navy vessels at sea he would simply drop a bomb on them.  To defeat Isis he would simply wipe them off the face of the map.   To stop crime he would simply reinstitute stop and frisk even though the courts have already ruled it unconstitutional (of course then he said he would only do it in Chicago).   The solutions are so simple and according to Donald of the 320 million people in this country,  he is the only one that can save us because everyone else is so incompetent.    It's that simple.  (I'm not kidding he actually said that.  See the video)

But here's the problem for Donald, and for all of the rest of those who think that the solutions to this nation's problems are simple, it's not that simple, Stupid!  If it were that simple the problems would have been solved already.   I'm going to tell you guys something about Washington D.C. and the people who actually run your government day to day that you might now know.  They are literally the smartest people in the country.   Now I'm not talking about the elected officials.   We can all see that some of them aren't that bright.   I"m talking about the staffers, the lobbyists and the career bureaucrats, the people that actually do the work in DC.  That kid that was valedictorian of your high school class?   There are 200 kids smarter than that kid that will get turned down for White House Fellowships this year.   Chances are there are 3 people who work on your United States Senator's staff that are smarter than that kid.   There are probably 20 people who lobby for the NRA or Goldman Sachs or the Motion Picture Association of America smarter than that kid.   One of the reasons I love Washington DC so much is that there are so many incredibly smart people walking around that town every day.   I thrive on talking to smart people.  Washington DC is to me what I imagine the Miss Universe pageant is to Trump.  

And that's not even to mention the Presidential cabinet level appointees who actually run the agencies.  Attorney General Loretta Lynch has a degree in English and American Literature from Harvard and a degree from Harvard Law School.  Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has degrees from Harvard and Harvard Law School.  Secretary of the interior Sally Jewell has a mechanical engineering degree from the University of Washington. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsak has a degree from Hamilton College in New York and a law degree from Albany Law School.  Julian Castro, the HUD Secretary, has a degree from Stanford and a law degree from Harvard.  The President has degrees from Columbia and Harvard Law School.  The First Lady has degrees from Princeton and Harvard Law School.   All of these highly educated people from the very best institutions of higher learning in the country are working full time on solving this nation's problems, but Bubba from Omaha who is in his second year at Omaha Junior college taking night classes has the solutions.   Because it's simple.  

My point is this.  Nothing simple gets to the President's desk.  Anything simple is handled well before then.   Again, the President of the United States has at his disposal the very smartest people in the country working on all of these issues that we fight on Facebook about every day.   That's all they are focusing on.    And when they come up with proposed solutions they have to forge consensus with other people who are also the very smartest people in the country.     And then they listen to lobbyists who are some of the very smartest people in the country.  And then they have to get those ideas through to Congressional staffers who are some of the very smartest people in the country.   And then it goes to those Cabinet level departments, and eventually may get to the desk of a Cabinet Secretary.  And if all of those very smart people can't come to a consensus, it might end up on the President's desk for an executive decision.   So you take something that a lot of folks think is very simple like the Keystone Pipeline.    All of those very smart people have been working on this for years and still have not come to a consensus.   What are the odds that Bubba from Omaha is going to figure it out when has not yet figured out his remedial math classes that don't give him any college credit.   If it were simple it would be fixed already.  Donald's evidently to simple, or to stupid, to know that.