January 15, 2017

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SUNDAY, JANUARY 15, 2017

N.G. Osteen 1843-1936 The Watchman and Southron

THE SUMTER ITEM

H.G. Osteen 1870-1955 Founder, The Item

H.D. Osteen 1904-1987 The Item

Margaret W. Osteen 1908-1996 The Item Hubert D. Osteen Jr. Chairman & Editor-in-Chief Graham Osteen Co-President Kyle Osteen Co-President Jack Osteen Editor and Publisher Larry Miller CEO Rick Carpenter Managing Editor

20 N. Magnolia St., Sumter, South Carolina 29150 • Founded October 15, 1894

COMMENTARY

Hosea, can you see?

W

ASHINGTON — Republicans can argue until their last breath that Trump objectors are sore losers, but isn’t more at stake than “mere politics?”

This phrase has been rendered quaint by such serious issues as: Russian hackers apparently trying to tilt the election toward Donald Trump; the FBI’s possibly politically motivated practices; Trump’s initial resistance to the conclusions of the U.S. intelligence community; Trump’s refusal to release tax records, which might mollify concerns about his relationship with Russia.

These aren’t partisan issues, or shouldn’t be, as evidenced by the Justice Department inspector general’s decision to investigate how FBI Director James Comey handled the probe of Hillary Clinton’s email and private server. The focus will be on Comey’s statement in July that Clinton and her colleagues were “extremely careless” with classified information but that he wasn’t recommending criminal charges — as well as his announcement to Congress just a week and a half before Election Day that, because of new information, he was reopening the investigation.

This fresh look pertained to new emails found on the laptop of Carlos Danger, AKA Anthony Weiner (but, really, why the name change?), estranged husband of top Clinton adviser Huma Abedin. The emails subsequently were found to be inconsequential, but if there were any fence-sitters left at that point, at least many of them probably toppled into Trump’s camp, from sheer exhaustion if not outright disgust.

Let me help you: Eleven days to go and the man who had said there’s nothing to see here suddenly says, Hey, there might be something after all! And no one’s supposed to think this affected the election?

How could it not have? Anecdotally, I can report at least a dozen friends who say, “That was it for me.”

But polling, too, suggests a consequential voter shift in the final days of the campaign.

FiveThirtyEight, Nate Silver’s polling/analysis group, reported that Clinton had an 81 percent chance of winning in mid-October. About a week after Comey’s announcement, that number dropped to 65 percent. This rapid shift didn’t occur because people suddenly recognized that Trump is a brilliant foreign policy strategist. It’s true that undecided people often return to their party at the last minute, but this may not account for Clinton’s sudden drop.

While it’s impossible to prove that Comey had any impact, there’s enough reason for dissatisfied Ameri-

cans to continue to protest the results — even on Inauguration Day. For certain, Comey acted against buKathleen reau policy Parker never to interfere politically or discuss investigations so close to an election.

If there’s any justification, Comey may have felt that the information would be leaked anyway.

Adding suspicion to skepticism, the hacking and release of Democratic National Committee emails also may have affected election results, though, again, it’s impossible to know how much since, as far as I’m aware, we can’t read people’s minds (yet). Thus, we’re left to draw inferences from suppositions from what little else we know.

We do know that our intelligence community concluded that Russia hacked the DNC, and Trump finally accepted this last week. To concede that Russia was behind the hacking (rather than a 400-pound person sitting in a bed somewhere, as Trump at one point theorized) was, presumably, to admit that Russia helped him win. Well, didn’t it?

Didn’t Trump loudly call upon Russia to hack Clinton’s emails?

For the undecided (or the unpersuadable), let’s pose a hypothetical: What if Clinton had publicly asked Russia to hack Trump’s records and release his tax returns — and Russia did? And what if the FBI announced less than two weeks before Election Day that it was going to investigate fraudulent practices at Trump University despite Trump’s settlement and the appearance of a done deal? Let’s say that Trump’s number dipped dramatically and he lost.

Do you reckon Republicans would be a tad upset?

The inspector general’s investigation into Comey’s conduct, as well as Congress’ investigation into Russia’s apparent interference in the election, are urgent, overdue, and probably useless. Mostly, Comey is guilty of poor judgment.

And Russia is being Russia — a fact best quickly absorbed by the soon-to-be president.

Yes, democracy needs saving and the republic’s foundation is showing wear. But isn’t the crucial question the very one that can’t be answered: Did we really elect Donald Trump to be president of the United States?

We may never know precisely who sowed the wind, but to be sure, we’re all going to reap the whirlwind.

Kathleen Parker’s email address is kathleenparker@ washpost.com. © 2017, Washington Post Writers Group

NOTABLE & QUOTABLE

F

rom Martin Luther King’s Sermon at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta on February 2, 1968: “Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead.

But it doesn’t matter with me now. Because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like any man, I would like to live a long life.

Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over.

And I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the promised land. And I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”

••• In “U.S. awaits a posttruth presidency,” author Barton Swaim writes, “What does President-elect Donald Trump really mean when he praises Russian President Vladimir Putin? No one knows yet; perhaps Trump doesn’t even know.”

But it’s curious, isn’t it, that so many of his critics take his flattery to be genuine expressions of his attitude, when everything else about his speech and conduct suggests that he often does not mean what he says.

That’s not quite the same thing as saying he’s a liar. If Trump is a liar, he is an unconventional one. His inventions and madcap exaggerations seem intended less to deceive than to scandalize and provoke.

What makes Trump different is not that he treats the truth with contempt.

What makes him different is that he does so openly, almost gleefully, as if he has discovered the phoniness of a myth that holds everyone else in check.

That “myth” was a Protestant-evangelical ethic of honesty that defined American political culture from the Second Great Awaken-

LETTER TO THE EDITOR SCHOOL BOARD, SUPERINTENDENT RUINING EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM It is an embarrassment to the Sumter community to have the school district pay a financial consultant to handle its affairs. If the board had properly done its job, the district would not be $6.2 million in the negative. Additionally, the board should not have hired Frank Baker as the superintendent. It was originally said that he would be the interim. Within two months, they voted to remove “interim” from his title and a

year later gave him a raise and extended his contract. The community could thank Darryl McGhaney for that. Now we see how that is working out for us.

Frank Baker has to be a narcissist.

He did the same thing before the districts consolidated and blamed the former Sumter 17 for causing the shortfall in the budget. He created this mess and blames everyone except himself, having people to believe that they are strategically plotting against him. When I met with my granddaughter’s teacher and

ing of the 19th century to the Social Gospel of the early 20th century to the Billy Graham crusades of the 1960s and ‘70s. It was an effort, in one way or another, to make America a Protestant Christian society.

Trump perceived, correctly in my view, that political rhetoric in the United States had become empty, a vast collection of platitudes and bogus phrases that no longer bore any real connection to the truth. Everyone else pretended to mean what they said when they didn’t; Trump simply dropped the pretense.

I find it hard to lament the quickening demise of the old honesty-based political culture. It had become cheap and false. If Trump hadn’t snapped it, somebody else would have.

••• In “Trump May Herald a New Political Order,” author John Gordon Steele writes, “Seldom does a presidential election mark a permanent shift. The last time it happened was 1932.”

For all their noise and news dominance, presidential elections typically don’t change the country all that much. That isn’t a bad thing but a sign of how strong American democracy is. It rarely veers far from the center, where successful policy usually lies. But on rare occasions, deep historical currents and extraordinary political talents produce an entirely new order.

It happened in the presidential elections of 1828, 1860, 1896, 1932 — and, quite probably, 2016.

To bring permanent change, Mr. Trump needs policies that succeed on the ground, not merely in theory. Faster growth and rising incomes are always rewarded at the ballot box. If the president-elect makes good on his economic promises, skeptical Republicans in places like Waukesha County may come home in 2020.

But continued outreach to minority communities is also crucial. Mr. Trump has promised to address the problems of inner cities, which he accuses the Demo-

principal, they stated that there would be no summer reading camp this school year because of the budget cuts. Why should the children suffer because of incompetent people sitting on the board allowing Frank Baker’s ineptitude to run this county’s educational system in the hole?

It is also disappointing to see teachers, administrators, and the business community silent on this issue. When Bynum was superintendent, loads of people crowded the boardroom and school auditorium with signs for him to leave. Many of their concerns had to do with SWEET 16 and those two ladies he

crats of ignoring for decades. And at one rally last fall, he was handed a rainbow flag, a symbol of gay rights. He smiled broadly and held it aloft as the audience cheered.

This is not your father’s Republican Party.

••• In “Donald Trump’s Dangerous Attacks on the Press,” former Washington Post executive editor Len Downie Jr. writes, “If there was any doubt, the uproar this week over BuzzFeed’s publication of unverified allegations about President-elect Donald J. Trump made clear that the gatekeeper role once played by major news media organizations has vanished in the digital age.”

This poses a deep danger for legitimate, aggressive journalism, especially from the president-elect, who has been consistent in his heavy-handed demonization of any and all media whenever he dislikes critical but accurate stories about him.

Too many members of the incoming administration and Congress have been following Mr. Trump’s lead, attacking factual news reporting. How would they and their constituents benefit if no one believes news coverage of what they say and do? After Jan. 20, will President Trump realize that he has a leadership responsibility to change his tone and approach, even when his ego is bruised?

Of course, the responsibility is not only Mr. Trump’s.

The news media must separate in the public mind responsible journalism from recklessly inaccurate and purposely false information disguised as news for profit or influence by charlatans.

Raging against attacks by Mr. Trump and his allies on “the mainstream media” will not suffice. The news media must double down on fair but aggressive news coverage, including scrutinizing the practices of those who don’t have the same standards.

Notable & Quotable is compiled by Graham Osteen.

Contact him at graham@ theitem.com.

brought in. Now, the good ole boy is back as superintendent, everyone is quiet when $6.2 million cannot be accounted for. Double standard! Where are the signs now? Frank Baker needs to resign immediately or the state legislators need to remove all board members who support this foolishness.

Many said that once consolidation came, it would be a District 2 takeover. Look at the test scores and the financial situation. They (board and Baker) are truly ruining the educational system.

WILFREDA GORDON-BROWN Sumter