Recently, our president made noises indicating that he would be the Time Person of the Year, that he was all but offered, but declined because he didn't want to agree to a photo shoot and an interview.
Did that happen? Time Magazine does not indicate that. They say it doesn't fit with their usual process, with the unveiling occurring on December 6th. With this President, who knows?
I would tend to think that magazine would make their decision regardless of whether the named person agreed to it or not.
Should he be named Person of the Year? It's true he has had a large impact on the country, much of it not very positive. But he has certainly not been successful in any way a President is traditionally measured, particularly with any significant legislation. He has not been the deal-maker he purported himself to be.
The economy, at least as far as Wall Street is concerned, has done well, and unemployment has continued to decline. It's hard to know how much of this to attribute to the current administration, as we are still operating under the Obama budget, and again, no significant legislative changes. We'll know more about this after the Trump budget and Republican legislation has passed.
He's certainly divided this country sharply. He continues to use Twitter as a way to insult and demean people and institutions, even other countries. He seems to have a particular problem with African American sports figures. He is also very quick to say something when it comes to Muslim terrorist incidents (Build the Wall! Ban people by religion!), and very slow to say anything about domestic gun violence (thoughts and prayers, now is not the time to come to any conclusion).
He is having a negative, divisive effect on the country. Is that enough to name him Time Person of the Year?
Although it's true that they sometimes select someone whose social and historical impact has been negative, I don't think, in the long run, that in 2017, he has had the most powerful impact on society. I reserve that for something else, another phenomena that has laid the seeds for significant change for many years to come.
And that is the MeToo hashtag. I would honor by name Tarana Burke, the original user of the phrase dating back ten years ago, and the one who put into current popular use, Alyssa Milano. They have started a necessary firestorm that has burned a path through the patriarchal abuses that many men of power have indulged in. It attacks the very idea that men, because they are in positions of power, cab sexually abuse and harass women. We have finally reached a stage where women have the confidence to speak out, and it is no small part due to the #MeToo campaign.
This has shaken things out, and identified scoundrels in many circles of American Life - business, entertainment, sports, religion and politics. Many have suffered loss of position, and some may even be prosecuted.
Using positions of power to intimidate and abuse women is wrong, and needs to be identified and stopped. And using them to commit acts of child molestation is particularly evil, and must be roundly condemned and punished.
This is easy to do in most industries. Unfortunately, not so in politics. Men have been elected and hold power with the most terrible allegations against them. Locker room talk or not, Trump confessed to being a sexual predator, of being able to use his celebrity to take advantage of women, and he was elected anyways. And by many of the same voters who claim to be the most religious and righteous. That fact has been one of the hardest facts I've ever had to deal with.
And now Alabama is poised to make another decision. Do they choose the alleged (but well-substantiated) pedophile, the abuser of children, or do they pick the prosecutor who put behind bars the Klansman killers of little children?
You would think this would be a no-brainer. But it's not. And once again, the group that is lowest to turn? The same white evangelicals that supported Trump.
The MeToo campaign has made incredible progress in giving women the courage to speak up, and you can feel the culture changing in many aspects of American life.
And I believe it will change in politics as well. Alabama will be the first test.
But it won't be the last one.
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