Tag: 2016 Campaign

A Letter to My Kids on the Occasion of the 2016 Election

Dear Danny & Bridget,

It’s now two days from the election of Donald Trump as our next president.  As I’ve said to you, the

magnitude of this event makes it hard to keep all the negative consequences in your head at the same time.   I keep thinking of new ones that I hadn’t considered or forgotten about.  Most of them are things over which we have no individual control.  “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I can’t change…”

But one thing we can control is how we remember this campaign, particularly the last few days.  As you know, I am always proud of you.  But my pride was literally bursting as I heard of the things you were doing to support the election of the first woman president.  Danny in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.  Bridget in Pennsylvania. Me in Cleveland and

Mom holding the fort in DC, anxiously watching us all from home.  I was moved to tears more than once.  I loved the fact that we all stayed in such close touch, even in our various locations.  It was truly a family affair.

You both threw yourselves, heart and soul, into this election.  From the day I heard that Mom was pregnant with Danny, I have always said that my fondest hope is to have children with passion.  Of

course I was hoping that your passion would be consistent with mine, but that wasn’t a prerequisite.

And boy did I get my wish.  You both are passionate and showed it in this campaign.  Danny, your 3,000 miles logged with Rep. Joe Kennedy will be something you remember your whole life.  And, Bridget, your enthusiasm for canvassing is one of the things that brought me to tears.  Frankly, I hate canvassing, but I do it because we have to.  Fortunately, I moved up to “management” on this campaign and only had to dispatch canvassers, not canvas myself.  That was nice.  And I loved hearing about your volunteer gig at the Bruce Springsteen concert, including getting on the news as a result of your Hillary socks.

What I want you both to promise me is that you will compartmentalize this experience.  A bad outcome on a campaign can taint the whole experience.  Don’t let that happen.  I’m not just preaching to you.  I’m preaching to myself, as well.  Let’s all draw a bright line between the campaign and the election.  And lets remember this experience with the fondness it deserves.

You are both extraordinary people and you showed in your “passion” the big-hearted values that were the engine of the Hillary Clinton campaign.  No outcome can change that fact.

Yes, she lost and it was devastating.  I honestly don’t have any words of comfort on that point.  Our friend Luke said it was like a sudden death in the family.  The only way through that experience is time, the time to absorb it until it becomes part of the new reality.  We’re all going to have to go through that process in our own way.

America is heading into a rough patch politically.  But we’ll get through it.  I would just ask you to keep the values you fought for in the campaign.  And keep that passion.  I love you both more that I can express.