Clinton's issues at the bottom
If the Hillary Clinton campaign wants to add yet another excuse for its presidential loss to Russian hacking, "deplorable" voters and James Comey, among other things, it might want to examine what a Gallup poll found were the most important issues to Americans.
In the 2016 average of monthly surveys, issues most vital to Democrats like "the environment" and "guns" consistently were ranked low among the 25 issues listed on the poll. Indeed, only 2 percent of survey respondents listed the two issues as their No. 1 concern. Those two issues tied for lowest in importance with the "gap between the rich and the poor," "foreign aid," "the judicial system" and two others.
The top five most important issues, respectively, were "the economy" (16 percent), "government" (13 percent), "unemployment/jobs" (9 percent), race relations (8 percent) and immigration (7 percent).
Donald Trump, it might be noted, focused on the economy, the often ineffectiveness of government, unemployment/jobs and immigration, and occasionally race relations, in his campaign.
In other words, instead of telling the people what they should be concerned with as Clinton did, he spoke to what they already were concerned with. Now he is the president-elect.
Hip to be bad
U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., is reportedly the leading candidate for the chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). But as the days go by, his negatives have steadily risen. After it was learned the former DNC chairwoman, U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., tried to rig the primary process for Hillary Clinton, the party may want to find someone with a lesser downside.
Not only was the Muslim lawmaker previously a vocal supporter of Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam, but he's also made comments about United States foreign policy being beholden to Israel, the U.S.'s strongest supporter in the Middle East.
Now, some of Ellison's past sins are coming back to haunt him. He had to pay more than $18,000 to settle a federal lien against him for unpaid income taxes between 1992 and 2000. Between 2002 and 2004, his state representative campaign was subpoenaed and fined over "discrepancies in cash balances, misclassified disbursement and unreported contributions." And in 2006, when he first ran for Congress, he had to admit his driver's license had been suspended multiple times for unpaid tickets.
To top it off, his then-wife, who served as his campaign treasurer, wrote a letter to a newspaper, blaming his oversights on her illness. He claimed he knew nothing about the letter, and the couple are now divorced.
Of course, Donald Trump is the president-elect. Maybe negatives are in.
Kerry in '16?
Secretary of State John F. Kerry has joined the Monday morning quarterbacking about the Democratic Party's 2016 presidential candidate. President Obama has remarked several times since the election, without mentioning Hillary Clinton's name, about the party's strategy, once saying "part of the reason why I was able to get elected twice is that I always tried to make sure that, not only in proposals but also in messages, that I was speaking to everybody." And Vice President Joe Biden has seemed to second-guess his decision not to get in the race, saying he even might run in 2020 (when he is 77).
Now, Kerry told The Boston Globe last week he considered jumping in the race a year ago. "For a minute or two, maybe somewhere along the line, it crossed my mind - possibly," he said. "But there are a number of reasons why I dismissed the idea. And I'm glad. I think it was right. I never really thought that seriously about it."
Going into 2016, Clinton not only was a shoo-in for the primary win but was expected win a landslide election and turn the Senate and the House from red to blue.
Kerry would never specify at what moment he thought he might jump in the race, saying only that things became "complicated" and that he "loves" his job.
The secretary of state, of course, was the Democratic standard bearer in 2004, losing a race to incumbent President George W. Bush in which many thought he would be a sure winner.
Next stop: basement computer
Onetime ESPN analyst-turned-political talk show host-turned-irrelevancy Keith Olbermann hasn't mellowed. Which is probably why his comments are relegated to a web show on GQ magazine's online platform.
The former network host over the past decade-plus has enjoyed saying nasty things about President George W. Bush, any Republican who dared criticize President Barack Obama and even his network colleagues. His rants and other hate speech earned him one door after another, finally leading to his current perch. But, naturally, he can't resist President-elect Donald Trump. So he has a little advice.
"Resistance means [to] find a Trump supporter every day," he said, "and remind them he lost the popular vote." He also suggested that lefties "never address Trump as president. He is Trump. Just Trump. Never president. The title of president, that we must protect for a happier and more honest time. Resistance means refusal. Resist!"
Sadly, this one time, well-thought-of sports announcer has become little more than a cartoon character of a political analyst.