As Shakespeare said

Not with a bang but a whimper.

And thus ended the most alarming conclusion to an American election in recorded history. The best thing to say about this election is clearly that now it is over. It seemed endless, vitriolic, vicious, and violent. The newly elected president is now expected to serve four years and unite our country, with his equally frightening vice president awaiting his own turn. I am, of course, as are many of you, dubious about both their intentions and their modi operandi. But since none of us have any choice at this treacherous moment in American history, let us simply hope for the best and be prepared for the worst. How we do that is a mystery to me but I’m willing to try. After all, as an oldster, this may very well be the last of my new presidents, and I’d like to go out on a positive note.

I never gave very much serious thought to moving elsewhere, out of America, other than to Israel of course. Sadly, this difficult age we live in has made even Israel a troubling alternative. It is clear that the air itself is rife with incompetent haters leading our countries.

And I must tell you straight from my heart, the heart of an IDF soldier’s grandmother, that when I see Yair Netanyahu being treated like a celebrity living it up in Miami and other hot spots, and when I hear about 7,000 charedim fighting their hardest — no, not to serve in the military, but to avoid serving in the military, and to continue receiving their stipends for daycare for their children and other perks, in a land where so many young children have seen their own soldier fathers buried — it haunts me. Don’t those who evade the draft see the cruelty in what they are doing? The cowardice? It makes me hold them in utter contempt and question their very godliness, which is supposedly the propellant in their misguided lives. And it clearly makes me question the government officials who allow such travesties.

In an army that is constantly seeking donations from abroad and woefully explaining that there is a shortage of equipment and trained chayalim, how dare they allow these freeloaders to remain in the country, milking the nation of resources and contributing only prayers? I will pray for myself, thank you. They should be treated with the same disdain as Trump’s contempt for the illegals in America. My dear Israel, I love you with all my heart and soul, but I fear your leader loves you less. I will continue to pray for you because you are our light among the nations, and I hope you will soon see the way to peace, for the sake of our new sabra great-grandchild, born in Jerusalem’s Hadassah Ein Karem, who will be a chayal in a mere 18 years. Please!

So, now, here in America, all of us will end our campaigning, our speeches, and our donations, and try to resume our lives. There is so much to worry about now. Will we continue to offer vaccines to our children? How about fluoride in our water? Will our health insurance continue to cover pre-existing conditions? Does every influential person get a free pass to break the law or make the law? Don’t you wish you had a magic ball to see into the future to know if it’s the best of times or the worst of times or merely a little blip on your screen that will soon be forgotten?

Or maybe that would be too frightening. The truth, after all, does hurt.

But if you want to know who I think brought and wrought this insanity to these United States, I’m ready to fess up! I believe that that distinct dishonor goes to the advisers of President Joe Biden, those undoubtedly power-hungry individuals who didn’t see beyond their own careers and their own names in the scrolls of history, those who saw a president in increasingly rapid decline but refused to speak up and speak out, those who ignored the admonition to say something when you see something. I will never believe that Biden’s diminishment was instantaneous; that it didn’t happen gradually, probably over more than months, but over years. I believe that people in his inner circle assuaged any doubts the president himself may have had about his ability to continue serving and reassured him that he was doing just fine when, in fact, he wasn’t doing just fine at all. It wasn’t until the serendipity of the debate against Trump that we in the world were able to witness for ourselves what was really happening in the seat of our government, and to campaign for a retirement for our president, not, unfortunately, an early retirement. Only reluctantly was the charade ended and the retirement announced. Too late!

This catastrophe meant a sadly abbreviated campaign with no real choice of another candidate, a better candidate. And I don’t care if it would have been another woman or a man. That was never the issue. And it seems in retrospect that abortion wasn’t much of a deterrent issue either. And Kamala, she just wasn’t up to the job. Her jibes and jabs were weak. Her stature diminished. We made of her the best we could but what was overtly missing was the charm. She was no Barack, or Michelle. She was no Jack. She was no Bill. The sparkle was faded. She tried her best, and kudos to her for undertaking an enormous challenge. We should have seen it up front. She couldn’t succeed.

And so here we are, in the state of New Jersey, wishing that things were otherwise and groping for something to support us, hoping that things will be better than we fear.

Good luck to us all!

Rosanne Skopp of West Orange is a wife, mother of four, grandmother of 14, and great-grandmother of eight. She is a graduate of Rutgers University and a dual citizen of the United States and Israel. She is a lifelong blogger, writing blogs before anyone knew what a blog was! She welcomes email at rosanne.skopp@gmail.com

opinion

comments