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A Front Row Seat: Working at The White House

The Great Disconnect: America's Heartland & Our Nation's Capital

The White House & The Press

Current Events

Current Events Through the Eyes of Millennials

The War on Millennials

How Trump Won the Nomination & What's Next

Can baby boomers beat the clock and claim the presidency for their generation one last time? If history is any guide, probably not. Generational headwinds will soon face any boomer candidate in his — or, ahem, her — quest for the Oval Office.

Ten years ago, the Republican Party in Indiana was treading water, locked out of the governor’s office for 16 years and with a majority in only one chamber of the General Assembly. Then came a Republican Renewal led by Mitch Daniels that endures today.

Both adored and scorned for his brash and unrestrained interactions with constituents, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has found himself embroiled in a scandal of epic proportions. A case that could end his chances of securing the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, or any other ambition, for that matter.

At least, that’s what the Washington, D.C.-New York media corridor think. In the rest of America, however, it’s just one big snooze fest.

Last weekend, for the second time in her first term in the United States House of Representatives, Congresswoman Susan Brooks was asked to deliver the national Weekly Republican Address. It was another reminder that she, and her Hoosier Republican colleagues, none of whom was elected before 2010, didn't get to Capitol Hill only to heed the advice of others that they "slow down" and "wait their turn" due to a lack of seniority. Instead, each has made a considerable impression through legislation or made a strong impact on the conversation via important leadership roles.

There was some good news for Republicans in a joint New York Times/CBS poll last week. On the generic U.S. House ballot the party held a 42 percent to 39 percent lead over Democrats, meaning Republicans are on track to hold their House majority. But exuberance on the morning of Nov. 5, 2014, cannot blind Republicans to the real problems that lie ahead.

White House press secretary Jay Carney’s desk is 50 feet from the entrance to the Oval Office and 50 feet from the podium of the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room. This is no mere coincidence. The Office of the Press Secretary serves two bosses, the president and the press.

On the foreign policy front, Hillary Clinton has no equal, at least on paper. But the fluid and precarious situation in Ukraine, rising tensions in the Middle East and the importance of economic development each provide opportunities for would-be Republican candidates to move towards parity with the presumed Democratic frontrunner.

In the end, Seat remains optimistic the challenges facing the United States can be met and overcome, so long as Americans are willing to put aside selfish interests and partisanship to focus on the hard decisions necessary to make the nation all it can be.

The book’s blunt title and “airing of grievances” with Americans young, old and elected is no reflection of “The War on Millennials’” tone — Seat’s ultimate outlook is hopeful and pragmatic.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Democrats were supposed to be in a state of permanent suspension awaiting word from Washington, or Muncie, or wherever Evan Bayh is at any given moment, about his own potential return to the Statehouse.

On the presidential level, Americans have shown a preference for executive experience in their candidates. In Indiana, however, Hoosiers have shown a deeper appreciation for legislators and less for local executives, namely mayors, for statewide and federal office. But why?

Hillary Clinton’s comment that she and former President Bill Clinton were “dead broke” upon leaving The White House in 2001 set off a media firestorm. She was criticized from every angle for being out of touch with the American populace. But the larger point to me is why? Why is she trying so hard to be “one of us”? She built it, she should own it.

Republican hopefuls are heading to corn country. But are voters looking for something new?

If someone wants to be president, they should just run for president.

To bring about real action, Republicans, and our nation, have to move on from Obama before Obama moves on to his post-presidential life. Republicans need to realize that Obama won’t be here forever.

No matter who it is, the 2016 Democratic nominee for president would make history if elected. Sure, Hillary Clinton's hypothetical inauguration gets all the glory for the mere possibility that she might be the first woman to crack the presidential glass ceiling, but what if her campaign ultimately implodes? How will Democrats make history then? Never fear! Clinton's fellow Democrats could make all sorts of history, too. Yes, even Martin O'Malley.

Americans simply love villains and in Donald Trump they have found one. Now, I understand not everyone possesses the same definition of what constitutes a villain. In politics, especially, villainy can be subjective. The villain is always the other guy (or gal) in the race. In the case of Trump, however, his villain bona fides are perhaps subjective but corroborated in both empirical and anecdotal data.

In the mind of Dr. Ben Carson, a Muslim is not qualified to be president. In the mind of Bill Kristol, Ben Carson is not qualified to be president. And in the mind of Andre Carson, one of two Muslims in Congress, if his fellow followers can’t be president, maybe neurosurgeons like Ben Carson shouldn’t be either.

Regardless of what any of these men believe, all three are highlighting an age-old debate about the unregulated stipulations of what constitutes a person who is “presidential.”

Call it whatever you want, but to me Trump’s rise is the last gasp of a generation trying hard to maintain an iron grip on the presidency through nativist exceptionalism that demeans and discriminates. It may help to drum up the populism to drive up the crowds, but the adverse effects are being felt around the world.

He could have been a contender. He could have been the nominee. He could have been president. But on Sept. 21, 2015, Scott Walker did the right thing; he dropped out of the race for the Republican nomination for president. Where would we be today if others had followed his lead?

What is the establishment? It’s the dirtiest word in politics today – even worse than that naughty rabble-rouser “compromise.” Makes you sick just reading it, no? But do people know what the word really means?