I don’t know yet who won the Presidential election but I know who lost, the American people. The country is even more divided 50-50 than projected before. There is no mandate to move one way or the other.
No political landslide this cycle, more like a political mud-slide.
I view political poll results as credible as readings from a crystal ball or investments ideas from a broker. Pollsters have had 72 years since they screwed up the 1948 Dewey-Truman race to improve their collection and screening of data and conduct accurately a snapshot of people’s opinions. Big fails in both national and state polls this election!
Another waste of time are political debates. They rarely move the partisan needle. Trump’s first debate with Biden was a disaster as his conduct was embarrassing. But obviously it did not hurt him in the election. Political debates are like pro wrestling matches – – ballyhooed, choreographed and the results don’t matter.
Democrats ran two very qualified Senate candidates against weakened Republican incumbents and lost decisively, despite polls showing tight races. Theresa Greenfield lost to Joni Ernst in Iowa and Jaime Harrison lost to Lindsay Graham in South Carolina. (Coincidentally to my point above, Ernst and Graham had very poor debate performances.) Republican Susan Collins, who appeared to be in an underdog in her Senate race in Maine, may hold her seat.
Not that half this country’s voters care but there were 1,130 new deaths due to coronavirus yesterday with 92,660 new infection cases.
Esot-eric 
Eric, I know that you are an intelligent individual but it appears that you think you are also God and know what is in my heart by telling me that I don’t care that people are dying of COVID – just further evidence of the arrogance exhibited by the “other side.”
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Hi Joe: I’m happy to hear from you and I hope that you and your family are doing well. I guess I owe you a few clarifications based upon your comments:
First, even though I was baptized and went through the Catholic school circuit, like yourself, I consider myself an agnostic. I have no idea if God exists or not. Based on my life experiences, I think probably not. So I will never pretend that I am God.
Second, obviously I do not now what lurks in the hearts of people. However, if you voted for Donald Trump, I will make a judgment that your care and consideration for people who have died or are sick from Covid may be different from mine. And it’s based on the public pronouncements and behavior of Donald Trump. Based upon the Bob Woodward book and tapes, Trump lied to the American people about what he knew concerning the seriousness of the pandemic. He has mocked Dr. Fauci and other scientists regarding the precautions needed as far as social distancing and masks. Above all, just like Trump has no health insurance plan to replace Obamacare, he has no plan in mitigating the spread of the coronavirus. The White House science area last week proclaimed that Trump had solved the coronavirus issue. So if you went to the ballot box and voted for Donald Trump, I assume that you support his very feeble efforts to prevent people from getting sick and dying. Joe, you may be the exceptional Trump voter who cares greatly about this issue but again, I think you are the exception.
Third, I don’t represent the “other side.” I’m not getting paid to present anyone’s views. I don’t think I’m particularly arrogant either. I’m pleased and surprised that you found my blog but I am not using it to influence public opinion. I’ve always like to write and I enjoy the exercise of thought and communication. I write to get my thoughts on paper.
Now that I have finalized our bit of business, Chris and I are doing well. We are both retired. I spend a lot of my time playing pickle ball which has become a huge passion of mine. I occasionally talk to Re. She spends a lot of time with her son Mark, his wife and their two children in Georgia. Re is a very caring grandmom.
My mom passed away a little over two years ago. She suffered from Alzheimer’s the last three or four years of her life. Not a very easy time obviously for my mother and for me. Frankly it has helped shape my religious cynicism. You will be happy to know that Chris is still a practicing and devout Catholic. Joe, take care and stay safe! If you get a chance, send me a note and let me know how you are doing.
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Eric, there is a lot to comment on your response but it would take a long time to do so. Right now, my emotions are running high around the election and the state of affairs in the US. Undoubtedly, regret would set in after sending a response. In retrospect, my comments were a bit snarky, particularly in light of not having any type of dialogue with you in a long time. For that, I apologize. I can’t believe we never connected in person while we both worked at TD.
I don’t know where to begin….Danielle and I have been married for 31 1/2 yrs. and have three children (30,28 & 26). Our oldest son is married with two children and another is on the way. They live in a suburb outside of Knoxville. Our second son has a home in Kings Grant and is gainfully employed. Our daughter currently works for JCrew in NYC but might be moving back to the area. She has been interviewing with Anthropologie which is based in Phila. Danielle and I have been blessed. All our children are hard working solid citizens with a good moral compass.
Danielle has been working as a real estate agent for the last 15 yrs. and loves the industry. She has been very busy and the pandemic has not affected her level of activity. I turned 66 in August and still toiling away at TD (10 yrs last August). I am still in CRE but working exclusively with affordable housing developers. About 4 yrs ago, I decided that the management responsibilities were taking its toil and took on the role of an ordinary grunt (Underwriter/Portfolio Manager). I don’t miss the management role one bit. There is still stress and anxiety but the management responsibilities wore me down after doing it for over three decades. My plan is to retire in January, 2022. In the Fall of 2017, I returned to the classroom to prepare for another career. I am pursuing a MS in Pastoral Clinical Mental Health Counseling (yes, a mouthful) at Neumann University in Aston, PA. I want to work in the substance abuse field, specifically with older adults (50+). I probably have a year and a half to go before graduation. Part of the program involves completing an internship over two semesters. I attempted to manage both while working full time but it was overwhelming, so there was a need to postpone part of the clinical sequence. Hopefully, the commencement of the internship will coincide with the plans for retirement.
I think about you often – it has been a long time. I am a terrible friend and am not good at keeping in touch. I still have the Norman Rockwell print that you gave me of a boy holding two melting ice cream cones. Do you recall that “event” on the train back from Philly? if you are up for it, let’s see if we can grab lunch in the near future.
Joe
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