LEADERSHIP MATTERS: OBAMA, TRUMP AND BIDEN

This tumultuous political era in America can be defined by three elected leaders, Presidents, Obama, Trump and Biden. While each is reflective of his own time and circumstance they will be seen to have put their own unique stamp on the destiny of a hectic period in history. A history which has been complicated by a viral pandemic that is threatening the health and economy of America and  the world. All this in the midst of the challenges of a media revolution, a menace to our planet through climate change, globalization, widening financial inequities, population shifts due to political instability and the deindustrialization of economies resulting in growing insecurity. All the latter has seen the emergence of radical self proclaimed saviors known as populists - a situation from which America was not spared. 

The twenty - first century had barely begun when America elected an African American to the highest office in the land, an event which was symbolically regarded as the affirmation of the aspirational Declaration of Independence which declared that,“All men were born equal”. Barack Obama, America’s forty forth President, had fulfilled the American Dream that there was no obstacle to any American achieving the greatest heights regardless of race creed or color. 

Obama’s two term reign was beset and then followed by a white backlash which opened the wounds of racism that have festered ever since the South lost the 1861 Civil War over slavery. This reaction catapulted an unashamed racist, Donald Trump into the White House, whose determination it was to keep whites as the dominant race in America. The forty - fifth President’s naked disdain for anything other than his own needs and objectives, open support of white supremacy groups and disinterest in cruelty and even apparent murder of those whose skins weren’t white lead to his ouster after only one term. Joseph Biden, Obama’s Vice President, a seasoned conventional politician, left of center and known for his decency replaced Trump in a convincing victory to become President - elect and the forty - sixth incumbent. 

While the coalitions which both Trump and Biden assembled had various needs, it is acknowledged that the crucial States that decided the outcome were in the Midwest and the crucial voters were the blue collar and middle class white workers that had abandoned Obama for Trump. Whether the arc of American history continues forward or regresses time will tell but it is instructive to examine the leadership of these three Presidents and the role they have played in this transformative and unsettling era in American politics.

WHO BECOMES THE COUNTRY’S LEADER AND DOES IT MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE?

There are those that argue that who the Commander in Chief is, is irrelevant. It is the situation that will result in change and the leader is merely one of many who could have effected the same outcome. This is only a partial truth as would six million Jews been gassed had Germany elected another leader to resuscitate the decimated post WWI Germany economy? If it hadn’t been for Churchill’s foresight, perseverance, eloquence and bulldog tenacity would the Western World be under fascist rule now? 

The time, place and circumstances do play a role in the emergence of who will be the chief executive . If the allies had not placed such onerous truce conditions on Germany there might not have been need for a fascist Hitler to reassure the Germans they were the master race and the Jews were to blame for their woes.  Had Hitler stuck to his deal with Chamberlain destiny would have kept Churchill in the fringes where he had languished for a decade with his drumbeat of the danger of the Third Reich.  

So there is no doubt that who the leader is makes all the difference. Both factors came into play as Ted Kennedy illustrated when he counseled the inexperienced Barack Obama as to whether to run or not , “The time chooses not you”. 

BARACK OBAMA FORTY - FOURTH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

While Shakespeare opined in The Twelfth Night - “Some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them”, there is little doubt that there have to be some of all those characteristics in all leaders. However there are few that could have had a greater share of “greatness thrust open them” than Barack Obama. He had a meteoric rise to fame having served only two years in the Senate when he was literally drafted into the candidacy for the Democratic nomination. He exuded charisma and hope, especially to the youth, who had been sickened by the duplicity and the never ending carnage of the Iraq war. Cynicism pervaded as “politics as usual” appeared to be immovable. In no time he was in demand having spoken at the Democratic Convention of John Kerry to a screaming audience who greeted him like a rock star. 

Obama never ran for the Democratic nomination as a black American. He was not a Jesse Jackson or an Al Sharpton, he was a reasoned caring empathetic candidate. The fact that he won the crucial Primary of Iowa convincingly with its three percent white population told it all. He addressed race once on that first campaign, that was when he became embroiled in a controversy as a result of the radicalism of his Pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright. Initially he explained the Pastor’s feelings in a historical context but when the media produced a string of outrageous comments from previous sermons the Presidential hopeful condemned them in such unequivocal terms that the controversy was no longer.

 In fact he steered clear of racial controversy wherever he could. However he felt personally involved at the seemingly unnecessary killing of blacks by law officers. He became emotional with the Trayvon Martin shooting, “It could have been my son. It could have been me thirty - five years ago” Another major cause celebre that unbelievably caused a massive backlash was when a nationally recognized black Harvard Professor was arrested by a police officer when trying to enter his locked house. The fact that the Officer knew that this was the home of Louis Henry Gates Jnr. resulted in Obama labelling his action as “stupid”. 

The Forty - Fourth POTUS was the epitome of what Americans believed their leader should be. He was dignified, decent, honest a family man and humble. His wife Michelle was an impeccably polished first lady. His policies demeanor and posture confirmed America as the world’s role model on the world stage. His election inspired such global optimism that he unprecedentedly was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in anticipation of his contributions on the world stage. His landmark achievement which the Republicans over the years have tried seventy times to overthrow legislatively and have challenged in court again and again has finally, after nearly a century of trying heralded in the concept of Universal health care. This followed on the rescuing of the economy the moment he walked into the door of the WhiteHouse.

He did nothing politically to engender the anger and the hatred directed at him that grew to a crescendo. They marched in the streets with posters likening him to Hitler and Stalin. The right wing Tea Party faction which virtually took over the GOP was spawned. He was in fact a moderate by every standard. Yet the animosity grew and grew.  Mitch McConnell , the Republican controlled the Senate openly stated that he would do absolutely nothing to work and compromise with the POTUS. Conspiracy theory after conspiracy theory exploded in social media. The one that really struck was the birther theory which in effect claimed that he wasn’t an American and therefore an illegitimate President. The public face of that lie was none other than Donald J. Trump. Obama largely ignored this mendacious smear and completed his second term with his historic achievement being the expansion of healthcare for the tens of millions in America who now had coverage. 

Obama initiated the transition to Trump’s term within two days of his razor thin victory inviting him to the WhiteHouse. According to Ben Rhodes, an advisor to Obama, all Trump wanted to discuss was the large crowds they both were able to draw. (Little did both of them know that Trump was to start his Presidency with the big lie that his inauguration  crowd was the largest ever. With the forty - fourth Chief drawing nearly two million and his successor approximately a half a million, and photos for all the world to see, Trump set the mendacious tone of his Presidency on day one.

Obama reflected the hope of his time - he stood out as the man of the moment who also happened to be black. Throughout his terms he worked closely with Vice President Biden and the two became extremely close. In eight years of his Presidency the world changed and his very blackness brought out the latent racism in America.

DONALD TRUMP FORTY - FIFTH PRESIDENT OF THE USA

Trump shared with Obama the characteristic of charisma - that is where it begun and ended. In many ways it was a quirk of history that the man who had pored such venom on the first president of color was to be his successor. Trump a real estate mogul and TV star had been in the public eye for decades and often had discussed the possibility of running for President.

 In 2016 he promised the world to the out of work factory employees and miners by rebuilding America’s infrastructure, reopening the coal mines, tax relief for all and getting factories back to America. He also concentrated on what he described as Making America Great Again, (MAGA), and limiting immigration. The discontent in the Republican Party had been exacerbated by George Bush’s Presidency and the takeover by the Tea Party and this outsider romped home in the Primary, beating a field of stars, to become their nominee.

In his appeal to those crucial MidWest workers he was able to connect at a gut level. He, Trump, too was outsider, but he had made it big time. He too was a victim of the elites who understood their plight while exuding omniscience and confidence, “I alone can fix America’s problems”. In return he demanded loyalty to him and not the State. In fact he built a cult. While Obama said, “There are no blue states or red states. There is only the United States”, Trump openly discriminated against the blue states. He made it quite clear that he welcomed White Supremacists as part of his coalition and had no empathy for those whose skins weren’t white. 

His policies and behavior were a mirror image of those of Obama. The only consistent thread in his policy was to reverse whatever Obama had achieved whether it be on environmental issues, health care, immigration or the like. Internationally to the horror of America’s allies he was in constant conflict with them and allied with America’s adversary Russia. He cozied up to dictators such as Erdogan, Putin, Xi, and Kim Jong Un. In short within four years America became the polecat of the world. 

His administration was incompetent, self serving, racked with cronyism and nepotism and he defied every norm written and unwritten refusing to co operate with the constitutionally mandated body, Congress, who had the duty to oversee, his Office. His demand to a foreign leader before releasing Congress voted aid to get him dirt on his prospective Presidential rival, resulted in impeachment.  All the deficiencies of his Presidency were on display in his criminal irresponsibility in managing the Covid crisis. America the richest and most powerful country in the world had the most abysmal record as he made no attempt at co coordinating the response.

Trump was defeated in the 2020 election principally as a result of a bigger turn out of whites as well as African Americans for Biden in those crucial Mid Western States. Nearly three weeks after the election he had not acknowledged his defeat. 

It is fair to say that the Republicans had no other potential nominee that remotely had Trump’s racist and obsessive anti Obama agenda. Only he and he alone could have evoked this racist response from his ever loyal followers and reopened the Civil War wounds. 

 JOSEPH BIDEN FORTY - SIXTH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

It is not often that the candidate most prepared and experienced for the Presidency is elected. Joe Biden has aspired to the highest office since starting on his political career a half a century ago. However his  political skills, deep knowledge of the issues, managerial ability, empathetic and compromising attitudes did not add up to the magnetism needed to gaining the nomination of his party. However it was these very attributes that in the current chaotic scenario that gained him first the Democratic nomination and then the Presidency. His candidacy was rescued by his career long support of African Americans who are the backbone of the Democratic Party. The de facto leader of the African American caucus, Jim Clyburn, threw his full weight behind hum, “We know Joe and Joe knows us”, In addition to that he was from the MidWest where he had long standing involvement with the trade unions. 

Biden’s campaign was controversial to say the least. Acting in a responsible role modeling way in the midst of the pandemic addressing only safely distanced masked crowds he exuded calm. For the most part he managed it from the basement and watched Trump run against himself.  While Trump continued with his virus spreader campaign rallies throughout the country Biden stressed the need to undo his four years. He deemed this life and death campaign as a battle for “The Soul of the Nation”. American values were on the ballot. He focussed on the pandemic contrasting his empathetic and experienced managerial and leadership style. He would accept ownership of the response to its detection, prevention, spread, treatment and economic devastation, contrasting with Trump’s almost total disinterest and narrative that the pandemic was not such a big deal. 

His role as Vice President for eight years had allowed the international world to greet his election with a sigh of relief. He was trusted and on day one Americas allies would once again be their allies and their adversaries their adversaries. International organizations would be rejoined. 

However, in spite of the fact, that he denied that he was going to be an Obama third term, the subtext of all of this was obvious to all. Obama had moved the Arc of American Moral history forward simply by his election, Trump had resisted it and attempted to return to the “good old white days” and now Obama’s Vice President with a black woman Vice President had defeated Trump. 

There is very little doubt in Jay H. Ell’s mind that no other candidate other than Joe Biden could have beaten this incumbent President with his loyal cult. 

THE THREE PRESIDENTS

Both circumstances and unique personalities played a role in the election of Obama, Trump and Biden. The former two both charismatic and were phenoms. While they represented the two opposite poles of American history, had totally different styles and personalities they were highly talented and skillful at projecting what they symbolized. Arising however out of the ashes of Trump’s attempting at halting history Biden was the perfect choice for an anguished society. So indeed the time and circumstances played a central role in the emergence of all three - once again affirming the Shakespearian dictum, “Cometh the Hour Cometh the Man”.

AT THE END OF THE DAY

History awaits the next chapter. Whichever way this is viewed the three will be inextricably bound. Looking at the 2020 election results realistically a crucial small percentage rejected Trump but swallowed his message accounting for the success of down ballot Republicans for Congress. History will marvel at the fact that by and large his cult bought his Covid 19 narrative with over a quarter of a million dead that it was nothing serious and they should just carry on with life.. Seventy - four million Americans voted for him in a defeat he will never recognize. So he still will be a factor in the future.

TRUMP WANTS TO BE PRESIDENT OF CONFEDERACY TWO IN 2024.

 

Donald J. Trump has created an alternate reality that was backed by over seventy - four million Americans in the 2020 Presidential elections which he lost to Joe Biden. In addition he has nearly ninety million hanging on every word that emanates from his tweets. He now controls his own political party and has his own rag bag of disparate militias. With the Republican Party’s electoral platform being whatever Trump decided, his agenda was to halt America’s progress to an egalitarian democracy and create a white supremacist country. With the Republican Party’s full backing he went into the 2016 election as the first potential dictator and four years later he has consolidated his position within the Party but mercifully not within the country.  

As matters stand his voters and their elected Representatives are part of his cult to execute a coup d’etat on the existing order. Trump the person is really not much interested in policy or philosophy but rather himself. The narcissist is obsessed with power and attempting to monetize whatever he can lay his hands on. On the flip side  of the coin, this megalomaniac is also about to face a desperate fight for legal and financial survival. So it is certainly no sweat to continue with his sociopathic behavior to create a white supremacist Confederacy with no regard to the impact he is having on the wellbeing of the country. 

Trump’s immediate tactic is to challenge the result of the recent election, literally by hook or by crook. His inane legal initiatives having flopped miserably to the extent that no reputable lawyers will represent his fantasies in court he has had to resort to making his unhinged personal lawyer Rudi Giuliani the lead in his challenges, His political pressures on the swing states' Republicans to declare him the winner cannot succeed, However his efforts go a long way in delegitimizing Biden’s win and arguing that he is not really the loser and thereby allowing him to carry on the good fight.

The upshot of this all is that he is consolidating his hostile takeover of the Republican Party to form a Party with same objectives of the old Confederacy. In so doing he is  abandoning any pretense of democracy and the rule of law. The question is will he be able to hold onto the stranglehold of the party of Lincoln. And if so could he win another election in 2024.

All this is taking place with the giant elephant in the room being that if only whites were allowed to vote Trump would be President. 

TRUMP’’S GOVERNMENTAL PARADIGM IS OF THAT OF THE CONFEDERACY

Trump certainly has more support than Jefferson Davis had in 1861 but not an equivalent amount of firing power. The irony is that the Republican political party that defeated Davis in 1861 is now the Party that is launching Confederacy II.  It is in order to retain and consolidate his leadership of Confederacy Two, that Trump will not recognize the “rigged election” thereby refusing to legitimize the current democracy in his and his cult’s mind. 

It is not that the cult following Trump is in denial. They simply have bought into the fact that Trump does not operate under a paradigm that “All People are created equal” - rather he wants to continue the fight to keep America white. Trump and his supporters are not much interested in the facts that operate in the current American reality as aspired to in the Constitution. The electoral apparatus and everything else including voter suppression has to be rigged to support their system. Hence Lindsey Graham calls the Georgian Secretary of State to get rid of votes that weren’t for Trump. Trump himself openly pressures State Republican legislators to reverse their electorates' will and declare him the winner. In addition to the fact there is a buy in that the vote was rigged and Trump’s multiple court battles are evidence of this. 

It is not they are denying facts they have, as Kelly - Anne Conway proudly announced from early on, just another set of facts. 

THE CONSTITUTION’S INTENT WAS NEVER REALLY BOUGHT INTO BY THE SOUTH

Even though the progress to full equality may have been implicit in Thomas Jefferson et al’s minds it is not really what Jefferson Davis’s forerunners bought into. The “We the People” mantra was only initially agreed to for the rich whites. In addition the initial Constitution, ratified in 1784, rewarded the South electorally for having slaves. For purpose of State representation in Congress the Southern States’ population was calculated on the basis of adding the presence of disenfranchised slaves. Three - fifths the number of slaves were added to the number of whites in that state, The Constitution also stated that slaves could no longer be imported after 1808 but that was cheerfully evaded by importing them through Florida and Texas which were not yet members of the Union. By 1861 Lincoln had had enough and Jefferson Davis seeing the writing on the wall started Civil War 1

THE CONFEDERACY STRUGGLE CONTINUES TO BE TAKEN UP BY TRUMP

 Although the South lost they have been fighting the result ever since to this day, With the writing on the wall that the whites will be in the minority by 2050 the issue became more urgent. Thus in the twenty - first century, over a hundred and fifty years after the Civil War, the inheritors of the Confederacy ideal saw the evidence of their battle finally being lost, in the election of the African American Barack Obama to the highest position in the land, President and Commander in Chief. This fact was seized upon by Donald J. Trump who maintained he was not American and conducted a campaign against Obama’s legitimacy lasting five years.  

Trump in 2016 against all odds won the Republican Party nomination and went onto capturing the Presidency. In 2020 even though he had fully mobilized the latent racism and the white supremacists and successfully moved nearly half the country to accept his paradigm he lost the election. However he is ready to move onto the next phase. Now of course seventy odd million Americans don’t support his white supremacy agenda but they bear the same responsibility as if they did. But for the future much will depend on how many true believers there are.

Having established Trump’s motives and his sociopathic behavior, aided and abetted by the Republican legislators who behind closed doors disagree with him, where does he go from here? His immediate objective is to create a bigger and worse health and economic crisis, make the workings of the government an even larger shambles for the incoming regime. The fact that this will add to the death toll from coronavirus as well as bankrupt small businesses and weaken the country’s national security doesn’t bother him a jot,  

In short Trump wants to demolish the political system that just elected Joe Biden as that is in his path and will end any hope of white supremacy. With this as a paradigm anything goes to achieve this end - twenty - two thousand lies, denying science, killing Americans, utilizing the government to ones own ends and defying the Constitution…are all fair game, 

WHERE TO NOW?

So the future is in the balance. How much he really cares about white supremacy is not as relevant as he is fighting for his own survival. He is aware of two factors that are inextricably bound - his white identity survival must remain the gospel and he must keep sole control of the Republican Party.

 Trump’s eldest son has made a move to lead the Republican National Party Committee. Having full control of the Party base and to date the blind acquiescence of the hierarchy means that officially holding the whole kit and caboodle will eliminate any defections.

Trump has many options to keep himself where he loves to be - in the permeant spotlight. As of this moment, even as a lame duck President he has the GOP, quaking in their boots, buying his narrative that the election isn’t over. To maintain this momentum he will declare himself a candidate for 2024. This would freeze all those sycophantic wannabes who would become enemies of the Trumpian confederacy if they declared their candidacy. The list is endless. Poor Mike Pence and his very good lady who have lived in obsequious sycophantic silence for nearly five years, will remain in obsequious sycophantic limbo should Donald declare himself a candidate.  Then there is the guy who was born in Canada, whose father assassinated Kennedy and whose wife isn’t a model, Ted Cruz, who has shilled for Trump like his life depended on it. Sweet wholesome Nikki Halley who has paid her dues and has even hinted at a run in 2024, in the belief that Trump would have reached his term limits, better rethink her options. Lindsey Graham who is lackey in chief and now numero duo in the “race baiting xenophobic bigot” stakes had to have fantasized that Trump will move his tent from town to town in support of him in 2024. For the foreseeable future he will have to hold back his ambitions and keep challenging the conclusion that the Russians intervened in the 2016 election and that Biden won in 2020. Then there is Pompeo, good old Rubio - the list of Republican candidates is endless but you get Jay. H. Ell’s gist - they are non starters if Trump can still hang onto center stage and will have to result is some sort of splintering of the hitherto immovable Republicans to get anywhere.

Trump could start a TV Channel and continue where he left off. He could further monetize himself by getting some one to ghost a book about what really went on in the WhiteHouse although there will be nothing new as he either spilled it out, or it was leaked or someone else wrote the story already. He could carry on doing his mass rallies and charge entry. He can employ the same organization that does the concerts for Billy Joel and Taylor Swift. He could start a hotel chain for the folks who want a big buffet breakfast and a bed for the night at reasonable rates. It would be a chance for the MAGA cap wearing warriors to stay in a Trump hotel. 

The possibilities are endless. But remember he has to keep his support and maintain his leadership position in the process to pose a threat.

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN

Trump will soon be in a lot of personal trouble legally and financially in addition to occupying his time being the alternative government. He has to rate up there as one of the worst businessmen on this planet simultaneously to being the smoothest conman ever to have managed to persuade creditors to loan billions of dollars after venture failure after venture failure. 

Now the great big success that bailed him out, “The Apprentice” earned him four hundred and ten million dollars. That is less than half his current debt according to Forbes. That is awful lot of money. Somehow Donald is going to have to find a path. The days of forgiving him loans of over two hundred million are passed. One wonders who and why they forgave him two hundred and  seventy million for his recent Chicago white elephant hotel which is losing money hand over fist.

Besides all his tacky hotels and golf courses that he seems to be the only one that plays on, what are his assets? All of these are probably mortgaged to the hilt anyway. The best The Donald can hope for is to get all his creditors in one room, it has to be a very big room, and see if they will accept five cents in the dollar if he has got it? The problem with that solution, politically, is that half his schtiek is how rich the blue collar workers’ champion is. 

Then there is the litigation which has already advanced. Obviously he will pardon himself and members of his illustrious family for all crimes Federal up till the day of Biden’s inauguration. However that does not let him off the hook for State Crimes and the Civil litigation he faces. The New York State Attorney Cyrus Vance as well as his Manhattan counterpart are far gone into their investigations. There can be no impediment in getting documents now and his son Eric has already been deposed. How much criminal liability the Forty Fifth President faces remains to be seen. Not even being mentioned that he is a de facto unindicted co conspirator for a crime that Michael Cohen went to jail for.

His civil litigation makes Clinton’s woes seem like petty offenses. He is accused of defaming a woman he allegedly raped and another, an Apprentice contestant, whom he allegedly sexually assaulted. The reason there are no criminal charges for the actions are because of the statute of limitations. In the former case he has been asked for his DNA and if Clinton a President had to give his, private citizen Trump has no legal standing what so ever. Then the one that could hurt the most, his niece is accusing him of defrauding her and her family out of a large large chunk of change in their inheritance. It is an ugly story and carries a heavy bounty. 

Through all this he has to retain his Svengali like spell over what was once the Republican Party electorate and keep control, akin to Stalin’s over the Politburo, over the Republican legislators. 

CAN TRUMP MAINTAIN HIS ALTERNATE REALITY WITH THE VOTERS AND LEGISLATORS?

What percentage of the faithful with or without MAGA caps are white supremacists? Who will hang until the bitter end? Will the majority Republicans in the Senate continue to buy publicly the Alice in Wonderland story that Trump really won the election because there was a massive fraud? There are two crucial periods - before and after January 20, 2021. Trump needs obviously to survive the former.

The lame duck POTUS is making it quite clear that he does not believe he is a lame duck. He has a twin strategy of survival - challenge the election results and declare himself the winner and generate fear into those Legislators who are thinking of crossing him by firing an array of administration officials some former Republican politicians who have challenged his narrative or policies. The one strategy that misfired, namely that the coronavirus was “a nothing”, is an albatross around his neck, which he sidesteps or talks about the emergence of successful vaccines that he argues he accelerated by Operation Warp Speed.  

So far the success of this strategy has not been universal. The Republican Senators are not under the same regimental control as they were previously. On at least on a few issues a number have come out against him - that Biden should be getting security briefings, the firing of the cybersecurity chief Christopher Krebs and the nomination of a madcap Federal Reserve nominee. There is one that has even got his cheerleader in chief, Mitch McConnell to publicly condemn, namely his sudden pulling out of troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. Firing Cabinet Secretary of Defense is an indication that the reported private revolt is bursting into the public. Mitt Romney issued a highly condemnatory statement on his undemocratic moves to keep himself in power. Texas Senator Corbyn added that it was time that he recognized Biden as the “apparent winner” and he be certified him as such.  Joni Ernst of Iowa distanced herself from his undemocratic behavior. The Republican leadership in the House broke ranks when the number three, Liz Cheney, condemned the attack on the system. He is in open warfare with a number of Republican Governors and one of his former inner circle, Chris Christie said that his legal strategy and the team executing it were a “national embarrassment”. 

His Million MAGA March turned out to be a damp squib with only thousands present, a few nonentity Conservative politicians and the far right, The Proud Boys were there in limited numbers but generally the attempt to unite the group under the banner of “Stop the Steal” had limited success. Those that braved the cold were rewarded by a perfunctory wave by the revolutionary President on his way to golf. 

His continued leadership is on the ballot in the two Georgia run off elections where Joe Biden beat him. He cannot hope for much joy from this result as if the Republicans win, as they are currently favored, it is a retrospective rejection of him, if they lose they have lost the Senate. 

Then sooner rather than later the States will ratify the election results and then the pressure to acknowledge Biden as the President Elect will be overwhelming. After recounts and court cases only the hard core will go into the streets. The electorate may be divided but Jay H. Ell doesn’t believe most are ready to go to war.

AFTER JANUARY 20 2021.

Much will  depend on what happened before but the ball will be in Biden’s court. If he can deliver on Covid, get a stimulus package through, a job deal and some normalcy Trump won’t go away but maybe he won’t have the field to himself in leading the other half of the country. Maybe someone will resuscitate the Old Republican Party that came to the conclusion in 2012 that it no longer could afford the luxury of being an all white party with the changing Demographics in America. Trump will do all he can to keep control and while he does he will take no prisoners. But those spineless Republicans take heart from the outcome of his TV Series The Apprentice which NBC took off after a total of a 192 seasons, about four years viewing time, for low ratings. We have all just been force fed ,on every channel,  “The Presidency” and hopefully it and its plot will be permanently shut down as this show’s four years are up.

OBITUARY: RABBI LORD JONATHAN SACKS - A GIANT FOR THE AGES.

It is not often in this day and age that a religious leader profoundly shapes thought  especially one from a faith which represents 0.2% of the world’s population. Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks was an acknowledged giant intellect having won the Templeton Prize in 2016 joining the elite company of Mother Theresa and the Dalai Lama. Even then other than the latter two and the Pope, few if any religious heads are known outside their own country. His passing this week drew eulogies from every walk of life including Britain’s Price Charles who stated unequivocally “…that the entire world had lost a leader whose wisdom, scholarship and humanity were without equal”. 

Sacks wrote in two genres  - one where he would interpret, often in a revolutionary manner, the text and subtext of the Hebrew Bible to convey the underlying message and the other where the content broadly related to the current status of secular society, his objective being  to address a wider audience. Jay H. Ell will attempt to provide examples of both. The Rabbi was engaged in the world around him and believed that climate change was the central challenge to the future as well the current turmoil that had resulted in populism. He feared the extremist demagogue populists maintaining that those on the right promised a past that never was and those on the left a utopia that could never be. His final book entitled Morality - Restoring the Common Good in Dividing Times (an Amazon best seller) — was written predominantly for a secular audience and provided his analysis of the crisis the world faced today and as always a hopeful solution. (Sacks made a point of distinguishing between hope and optimism. The latter reflecting that positive change would just happen while the former aspired to improvement but required a concerted  effort by mankind).

Sacks attempted to weave what he saw as the morality in religion, with liberal democracy and free markets. He had a great love for his native country where he was head of the Orthodox Rabbinate for over two decades and the United States of America whose constitutional government he greatly admired. After his retirement he spent prolonged periods in America as a visiting Professor. 

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

Besides an exceptional analytic, interpretive, and integrative mind, an ability to make complex subjects appear simple and possessing oratorial skills, it was Sack’s background and broad education that made his contributions unique to a wide audience both within the Jewish faith and society as a whole. His pre University education was conducted in Anglican Schools and his subsequent learning at Christ’s College Cambridge, King’s College London and finally at Yeshiva. He received his Ph. D. in philosophy wryly remarking that all his teachers were atheists. Besides an encyclopedic knowledge of everything pertaining to the Jewish religion, his vast experience included literature of all religions, economics, (his initial choice of  vocation was to be an accountant), politics, history, sociology, science generally and on and on. His decision to finally study for the rabbinate and then teach while holding a pulpit was as a result of the transformative influence of the Lubavitcher Rebbe in New York who taught him that good leaders lead while great leaders create leaders. 

Ascending to the post of Chief Orthodox Rabbi of the UK and Commonwealth at the age of forty - two elevated him to rock star status. Coming not via the traditional route from a long list of learned Rabbis and not having been steeped in religious study till he was in his third decade of age made him an outsider from day one. This drawback made Sacks at times controversial. What clashes he was involved in were not with the outside world and other religions but within the Jewish Religious Hierarchies themselves.

 In the final analysis Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, who died at the age of seventy - two, was predominantly known among theologians, academics of multiple disciplines, philosophers, journalists, authors, students and those of religious faith through out the world. In the UK his regular BBC radio broadcasts, newspaper articles and popularity of books made him more of a public figure than elsewhere although in the United States through TED interviews, (millions of hits), and other media exposure his personage was known to a slightly wider audience. Notwithstanding the aforementioned, Sacks was a giant and the list of dignitaries paying tribute to his distinguished life in the UK include Prince Charles, British Prime Ministers including the current incumbent and leaders of all the other faiths. In America numerous obituaries were published including in the New York Times and The Washington Post.

SACKS’ CREDO

Rabbi Sack’s positions evolved over the years which was in sync with his paradigm of creation. Central to his belief system was obviously the Hebrew Bible, (Old Testament) - the key component being the Torah or Five Books of Moses but none of this was divorced from the world around it. It had to be understood and relevant n the here and now.  He believed that the Hebrew Bible, (HB), had been written for the era it purported to represent. From the word go it was immediately modified through what was known as the Oral Torah and then reinterpreted at every turn through the Talmud to this day. In addition he viewed even the original HB as “progressive”. For example he pointed out that the slave was apportioned with rights in the HB a concept foreign to civilization in that era.  He/she was not to work on the Sabbath and after seven years should be released, for example. When challenged as to why slavery wasn’t abolished all together the Rabbinic response was that that injunction would never been accepted as slavery was so entrenched in the system. Sacks pointed out it took millennia to achieve that objective.

 It was in that evolutionary context that he integrated all knowledge into his world view. When challenged in a debate by atheist Richard Dawkins as to how he decided when and what was a miracle, he replied that the moment science provided proof or an explanation of how an event had occurred he knew the texts had to be reread and their meaning updated. He saw no dichotomy between science and religion - the former pulled the universe apart to explain how it worked while the latter detailed the purpose. 

This is what he continued to do till his dying day. He will rank with the Jewish sages such as Maimonides. As a philosopher he will up there with the proponents of the Enlightenment. 

ALL MEN WERE BORN EQUAL AND NO RELIGION IS BARRED FROM SALVATION

Sack’s interpretation of the fact that all men of all religious persuasions were born equal was derived from early on in Genesis, on the basis that all men were created in G-d’s image. This conclusion resulted in an attempt to try for him heresy by a group of fundamentalist clerics who believed that Jews were the ones chosen by G-d. While all this may seem trite his statement  had enormous ramifications for the over four billion people that are still religiously affiliated. The upshot of all of this was that there were several equal pathways to G-d via the various religions. In fact each religion was entitled to its own interpretation. This did not alter the fact he understood that the Jews had received a separate Covenant and were answerable to G-d in their own unique way. 

His thesis had tremendous impact among the lay public. Initially it was detailed in “The Dignity of Difference" and subsequently developed in his best seller “Not in God’s Name”. Sacks was in the forefront of interfaith co operation both in the UK and the World. The message was that we all may have different religions which we may adhere too but should join together in the brotherhood of man. Sack’s was more than aware of the growing number who registered that they had no religion whom he regarded as secular humanists. He believed they should be joined by the religionists in the endeavor for justice, reduction of poverty and equality.

JUSTICE FOR ALL

In his writings he emphasized again and again the “love of the stranger”. he quoted Moses who reminded the wandering Jews that should have this insight as “they were strangers in Egypt”. He stated that in one form or another that that sentiment was expressed in the Torah more than thirty five times while “Love thy neighbor as thyself” only appeared twice. He mentioned that Moses intervened physically for what was injustice in three distinct situations - between Egyptian slave master and Hebrew, between Hebrew and Hebrew and between non Hebrew and non Hebrew. Justice was universal. It is interesting to note that Francis Fukuyama, the renowned political scientist, argues that the rule of law which is a crucial component of liberal democracy was derived from religion. 

Sacks in discussing the three types of authority that were evident in the Hebrew Bible referred to the Priestly which was akin to the strict interpretation of the law, (comparative to philosopher Kant’s approach), the throne which he likened as to decision making on the basis of wisdom to make the most people happy, (subsequently the basis of another Enlightenment philosopher Bentham) and finally the prophetic where truth was spoken to power, (David Hume). While the philosopher - rabbi saw the necessity of all three types of governance he obviously favored the prophetic. He referred often to challenges to G-d in the Hebrew Bible starting with Abraham, “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked……Will the Judge of earth not do right”, and referred to Moses’s defiance on crucial occasions and Job and Jeremiah.

The tradition of justice and equality has been handed down through out the millennia and Sacks claims that there were a disproportionate number of Jews in the anti apartheid and civil rights struggles, for example, for a reason. 

There are many attributes such as the importance of education, questioning especially by children, community responsibility, the centrality of the family, charity and welfare that Sack’s delves deeply into their HB origins in his writings, all of which are the characteristics that define judaic law, culture and behavior. 

THE AMERICAN DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE AND CONSTITUTION

The historian in the Rabbi noted the first few sentences in the Declaration of Independence, “We hold these truths to be self - evident , that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these were Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Sacks immediately points out that nowhere previously were these truths “self evident”. Plato and Aristotle had a hierarchy of mankind. No other constitution had enshrined the rights to “We the People” It didn’t bother the Rabbi that this was all aspirational as so was the HB. It took till 1919 for that aspiration of full citizenry to be fulfilled in the United States and to this day the issue is still being fought over. He saw in the American value system the influence of the HB both in the equality of all as well as the progression to that goal. Also the official separation of State and Church was in sync with his view that religion should “Render unto Caesar’s the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s”.

SIBLING RIVALRY, ITS RESOLUTION AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO INTER RELIGIOUS RIVALRY.

Sacks argued with Freud that the prime driving unconscious conflict in humanity was Oedipal. In fact he maintained that Freud had in his later less well known writings accepted it was sibling rivalry. As he had done in so many analyses of the texts and subtexts of the Torah he traced the evolution of the appropriate resolution of sibling rivalry. Starting with Cain and Abel it was settled by murder. Isaac and Ishmael appeared together at Abraham’s funeral, Jacob and Esau kissed, made up and went their separate ways. Joseph forgave his brothers who had repented. Finally Moses, Miriam and Aaron proved that relationships could be selfless, cooperative, complimentary and without rivalry or rancor. 

He used this model to explain the destructive millennial old conflict between the three major monotheistic religions that contested as to which one was the true descendent of Abrahamic monotheism. With regard to Christianity he referenced Paul’s Letter to the Galatians, where Paul admonishes those Christians who in effect wished to continue Jewish imperatives such as the Sabbath and male circumcision. He believed that Judaism had been usurped and replaced by the “younger” Christianity. Paul maintained that the father of Judaism was Ishmael son of Hagar. The Muslim religion saw Ishmael as Abraham’s first born and hereditor of the mantle of the monotheistic religion. The Koran adopted large parts of the Torah, regarded both Moses and Jesus as prophets but believed that the Torah had wrongly named Isaac as Abraham’s successor rather than Ishmael.

Sacks hailed the breakthrough in the 1960’s by Pope John Paul XXIII who outlawed the labelling of Jews as perfidius. The pontiff was responsible for several initiatives at reconciliation asking for forgiveness for the Church’s anti semitism through the ages. Notably the changes in relationships to all religions followed in Vatican II in a document entitled Nostrae Aetate. The latter included the statement that the crucification cannot be blamed on Jews as a whole  and certainly none of those today. Relationships have improved since each successive Pope. Particularly the current Pontiff is outspoken about the new wave of anti semitism that has been evidenced this past decade.

Sacks was invited to lecture in the Vatican. In 2010 at a meeting with Pope Benedict he outlined the shared vision of the two faiths, “In the face of a deeply individualistic culture we offer a shared community. Against consumerism we offer things that have value not price,..In the face of fragmenting families we believe in consecrating relationships.  

ANTI SEMITISM ITS RATIONALE AND ITS EVOLVING GENESIS

The fact that anti semitism was emerging “within living memory of the holocaust” deeply distressed Lord Sacks who made historic addresses to the House of Lords and the European Parliament on the subject. Sacks reflected that this had occurred in a circumstance where Europe had gone to inordinate lengths to wipe out the scourge. He warned that anti semitism is not about Jews but rather about anti semites - if circumstances are bad, a people can either look to see what they had done wrong or how could they could correct course or seek a scapegoat. Invariably if they did the latter the jews were to blame. He further reflected that what begins with anti semitism never ends with anti semitism alone.

Sack’s theory as to why anti semitism persisted through the ages was that it mutated like a virus depending on the dominant belief system at the time. From time immemorial to late into the eighteenth century it was based on religion - Jews did not believe in Christianity and killed Christ. At least then there could be salvation via conversion. Then the argument turned to race - the Jews were an inferior race who schemed to takeover the world through capitalism and communism. The theory was based on Social Darwinism. Most recently the cleric offered that the discrimination arises out of the fact that the State of Israel exists. He has no beef with those argue with Israeli politics but rather with those that believe that it should not exist at all. Their alleged crime is that it is threat to world peace in that it is an apartheid state, commits humanitarian crimes even genocide. These allegations are a regular feature of the United Nations. 

The outgoing Secretary General of the UNO put down as the main cause of the International body’s impotence was its obsession with Israel. The “bias” against Israel had, for example, lead in a six year period to the passage of two hundred and twenty three resolutions against Israel and six against Syria. In this climate murder is perpetrated by Islamist terrorists of Jews who have nothing to do with Israel such as in a kosher butcher shop in Paris while white supremacists still using the old canard that Jews are inferior and wish to take over the world can slaughter thirteen worshippers in a Pittsburgh synagogue.

CRITICISM  OF SACK’S POLITICAL AND SOCIAL POSITIONS

Within the Jewish Community as might be expected Sacks was criticized for being too liberal by some of the Haredi establishment and even threatened once with being charged as a heretic for his position on other religions. The Chief Rabbi stuck to his guns altering his phraseology slightly but not his contentions. Then there was a bohaai when he did not attend the funeral of a Chief Rabbi of the Reform Congregation. The deceased’s widow cleared up the controversy when she stated that Rabbi Sack’s had not offended her at all and there was never any rift. The latter incident resulted in Sack’s negotiating a closer relationship between the various Jewish sects who would appear on the same platform on communal issues but not necessarily where religious services were involved.

Sack’s refusal to take party political positions evoked much anger by protagonists of various viewpoints who maintained they simply just flowed from his stated positions. For example his failure to take sides in Israeli politics when he had advocated a two state solution. He had been a close friend and supporter of Rabin so why was he not criticizing Bibi Netanyahu and the creation of settlements?. He was steadfast in his refusal stating that he belonged to organizations that promoted peace and he had contact with like minded Palestinians. His overall rationale was that men of the cloth should provide influence rather than become involved in power.

Lastly as the social revolution evolved the Chief Rabbi became more and more confronted particularly on the role of women in religious activities and same sex unions. At one particular forum Sacks begged off the issue of female participation in  orthodox religion reminding the questioner that he was also Head of the Beth Din which was responsible for maintaining strict law. He has laid great emphasis on the role of the woman in the Hebrew Bible pointing out that the first recorded civil disobedience was effected by women. First and foremost was Pharaoh’s daughter, who in spite of her father’s edict, knowingly adopted a Hebrew boy, the two midwives who disobeyed Pharaoh’s decree to kill all Hebrew boys, Miriam for risking her life standing over Moses and finally Moses’s mother, Jochebed,  for having the guts to have a child under those circumstances. He argued that the some of the most influential prophets had been women. His written position on same sex unions appeared to soften in answer to a questioner not long before his sudden passing. There he stated, akin to the Pope, “Who am I to decide what constitutes a family?”. 

MORALITY - RESTORING THE COMMON GOOD IN DIVIDED TIMES

The essential gist of Sack’s final book was that the obsession with “I” as opposed to the “We” in the modern world is at root of our problems. There is an abandonment of the common good. He argues that individualism has gone overboard since the sixties with the modern icon now being the selfie. Personal greed has accelerated with the free market policies introduced by Thatcher and Reagan in the eighties going out of control. Put another way liberal democracy, which is under siege and free markets which are merciless, give choices but don’t guide us on how to choose. The latter factors together with growing inequality have given rise to “populism” as manifested in several countries and in the UK as BREXIT. He labels all these woes including rising suicide rates and drug overdoses as “Cultural Climate Change” and details the features that make it up. He notes that this type of societal convulsion is associated with media revolutions such as had been with the printing press and now the internet.

The solution to all of this is a common morality which he believes lies in a commitment to one another on every level. This can be achieved by society once again making a commitment to care for all and a return to the family as the central unit of society. Needless to say his salvation is the binding capacity of religion and its commitment to the “neighbor” and the “stranger”. However he welcomes what he calls the secular humanists in this struggle. 

A common thread through all his writings was the difference between a contract and a covenant. The former involved an exchange which was dependent on each side fulfilling their commitment - for example the exchange of payment for service or goods or politically as with Hobbes where citizens swopped liberty for protection and safety. A covenant was more than a contract it involved trust and faith by both sides. The covenant required loyalty, steadfastness and not walking away when the going got rough.  For example a marriage involves trust and growth. In political and societal terms  a covenant implies care for others in the community. In religion he likened the relationship between God and the people as one between bride and groom.

While many will not agree with his analyses and interpretations they will be ad idem with his objective - the common good. He promised other insights via books but that was not to be……

AT THE END OF THE DAY

 Rabbi Sack’s youngest daughter in her eulogy “—- I was not ready for this…..”.