Straight Up The Middle

Buckle up for 2018

By Cara Cromwell
Posted 1/20/18

I’m ready for baseball. 2017 could have been a remarkable year for the Red Sox, but ended in a bit of a whimper. The team won another AL East title (the first time they’ve won two years …

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Straight Up The Middle

Buckle up for 2018

Posted

I’m ready for baseball. 2017 could have been a remarkable year for the Red Sox, but ended in a bit of a whimper. The team won another AL East title (the first time they’ve won two years in a row) and breakout performances from young players made the team exciting to watch throughout the season. The team sputtered in the playoffs, losing to the soon-to-be World Series Champion Astros and the talk shifted to “next year” far earlier than we’d hoped. I’m looking forward to spring training reports and have April 5th (home opener) circled on my calendar. It’s time for “next year” to be “this year” in the world of baseball. I’m a little less eager to face 2018 in the political realm.

If folks were hoping that this year in politics would be better than last, I offer this friendly warning: 2018 is unlikely to be a year of thoughtful discourse and measured political rhetoric. In fact — brace yourselves — I think it might actually be worse. Not only is it an election year with 36 governor’s races, 33 senate races and 435 house seats up for grabs, but it’s the first midterm election of a new president. The first midterm is traditionally an election where the electorate expresses dissatisfaction with the new president’s policies and a more likely time for power to flip in the lower (House) chamber of Congress. The Republicans under Ford lost 26 seats in 1974, in 1994 the Democrats under Clinton lost a whopping 53 seats and in 2010, Democrats lost a jaw-dropping 63 seats with then-President Obama calling it a “shellacking.” It’s not hard to see why Democrats around the country would rightfully look at 2018 with no small amount of hope as the deck is stacked in their favor. For those of us who have to witness this hideous campaign season up close, the nausea is real as it could be the most rancorous ever. We have a president willing to say anything and insult anyone to advance whatever debate he has chosen to start that day. Even worse, his style is creating Trump copycats, lowering the bar for meaningful political discussion and further debasing our election process.

In Rhode Island we are already seeing signs of a less civilized debate. Joe Trillo, once a stalwart of the Rhode Island Republican party, announced his candidacy for governor as an independent. His calculation to leave the party and shape his own agenda might not be a bad one and only time will tell. Being a Republican in Rhode Island is a disadvantage on election day and being able to define yourself without the burden of a party platform is appealing. Shortly after his announcement he called his opponents “pansies,” showing his Trumpian tendencies. Since we discourage that kind of name calling in elementary school, I have to believe that it certainly isn’t acceptable in a leader who needs to manage the complexities of state government and connect with people on a daily basis. Another candidate, Gio Feroce, made his announcement on a social media posting a shirtless photo of himself in a Las Vegas hot tub. Again, a wave of nausea. I can’t decide if I was less interested in seeing his body or hearing about how he thinks he is doing Rhode Islanders a favor by taking “4 or 8 years off of having a blast” to serve as governor. Since then he has tweeted out things like “I hope you can handle some profanity.” Ugh. Just keep your shirt on.

I’m happy for anyone who sees 2018 as a glass that’s half full. I’m just happy that pitchers and catchers report in three weeks.

Cara Cromwell is a public affairs consultant with more than twenty years experience managing issues campaigns for corporations, non-profits, associations, coalitions and candidates on both sides of the aisle. An unaffiliated voter, serial ticket-splitter and enthusiastic Red Sox fan, she believes that in politics — and baseball — game changing action occurs in the middle, creating opportunity on the ball field  and compromise and coalition-building in the halls of power. Visit her blog, Straight Up The Middle, at straightupthemiddle.blogspot.com and follow her on Twitter @cmcromwell.

Cara Cromwell

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