Christie Whitman
August 20, 2020
Watching Barack Obama eviscerating Donald Trump last night was extraordinary. For a former president to criticize, much less attack, their successor, is just not done. Yet, in 15 minutes President Obama outlined just how dangerous this administration is to the very foundation of our democracy. Its disdain for the rule of law and the constitution is played out every day for all to see.
Many Republicans are furious that I publicly endorsed Joe Biden at the Democratic Convention last Monday. I would ask why. Donald Trump is no Republican, he never has been. The only party he cares about is a party of one, himself.
Let me quote just a few sentences from President Dwight Eisenhower’s speech to the 1964 Republican National Convention outlining some principles of the party.
“This Republican Party, then, was conceived to battle injustice; it was born committed against degradation of people. So it is more than mere coincidence that we Republicans have as an article of political faith, faith in the individual. Nor is it coincidence that our party so born has never ceased to champion the rights and privileges of every citizen, regardless of race or station.”
Speaking about the Republican administration of the 1950’s he summed up the party thus:
“That Administration stood for integrity in government. It stood for fiscal responsibility, including disciplined management of public spending…it insisted that all public responsibilities be carried out wherever possible by local and state governments, by the Federal government only when necessary.
“Our party stood for sound foreign policy within which every critical development would be carefully judged and consistent action forthrightly taken.”
Does any of this sound like the party of Donald Trump? Eisenhower describes what was my Republican party, but I sadly don’t see any of it today.
And it’s not as if our choice is anyone but. In former Vice President Joe Biden we have a man of proven integrity and decency, someone who has shown how to work across party lines to get things done. A man who believes deeply in the essential good of the American people, a patriot who respects the constitution and the rule of law, a strong and steady presence.
Kamala Harris represents the future. A bright, experienced, multi-ethnic woman who has risen to the top of her profession as a state’s attorney general and senator. She has both management and legislative experience.
Will I always agree with everything a Biden/Harris Administration undertakes or proposes? No, of course not. But I will be confident that what they propose they honestly believe will be in the long-term good of the American people and the country as a whole. What a nice change that would be!