Trump loss a reason to celebrate
- By Mitchell Blatt
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E-mail China.org.cn, February 6, 2016
The Democratic race, meanwhile, was a dead heat. Hillary Clinton won by a total of two delegates. Bernie Sanders was down by 50 points in Iowa when he entered the race, and he was projected to lose by a few per-centage points in most of the polls just a week before the vote. As Team Clinton watched the results come in, with her lead gradually shrinking, they must have had flashbacks to 2008, when their candidate entered the primary season as the "inevitable" favorite but then ended up losing Iowa to another upstart senator, who is now the president.
Both sides claimed a moral victory. Sanders said it was a "virtual tie." It proves Sanders can at least compete and that he will give Clinton a fight the rest of the way. It will give him momentum going into New Hampshire next week, where he already leads Clinton in the polls. But most analysts say they expect Clinton to do better when the race moves down South, where the electorate includes a large number of African-Americans, with whom Clinton is doing well.
Overall the results of Iowa, give Americans something to be happy about. They show that when it comes down to casting the ballots, a majority will oppose the hateful, anti-democratic, fear-mongering of extremists like Trump. It shows that the principles of democratic campaigning can still have an effect. Cruz had a better team on the ground in Iowa, and Trump was hurt by negative ads by groups intent on warning Americans of the debacle a Trump presidency would be.
However, there is still much to be concerned about. Even though Trump didn't win, he still came precariously close to doing so, and the undercurrents that fueled his rise have not been eliminated.
Cruz also has problems, as he took extremely conservative and unrealistic positions on many issues. At the end of the day, however, he based his argument on policies and constitutional principles he supports, however wrong or right he might be, which in and of itself distinguishes him as better than Trump.
Most Americans will be breathing a sigh of relief that Trump didn't win, but the contest moves on and he shows no sign of dropping out for now so it's too early to celebrate.
The author is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:
http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/MitchellBlatt.htm
Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.
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