Positively Political

It's been the wildest political season in decades...maybe even in the history of the United States. But I'm not here to sway you over to one candidate or the other. With so much hyperbole from both sides of the isle, I've decided to point out just the positive contributions of the candidates. 

Not that the candidates don't have discrepancies to be considered, but there is far too much negative reporting and it is easy to forget that we are talking about human beings who have personality faults. Sometimes it's best to step back and examine their actual achievements, and that is what I intend to do with this article.

As a businessman, I've often been confronted with people that I have difficulty relating to, but there is one question that always surfaces...will this person perform? This is the question of the bottom line of any job. To be profitable, or in this case effective for the country, the people want results.
Years ago, an associate told me something that has always stuck with me. There are three crucial questions that have to be answered to complete a project effectively: Is it on-time, on-budget, and to the satisfaction of the customer? Those three elements are crucial to a job, not that the man or woman is kind, or dresses well, speaks well, is beautiful, or whether we like or dislike the person.

We don't have to like the president of the United States, we have to elect a competent one that will accomplish his or her job effectively.

Forecasting was a job I took seriously in the past, and now it is a hobby of mine. To predict the future events, we must first look at the past. Therefore, to anticipate potential results of our president, we must look to the past performance of their previous work. The following information documents the top previous accomplishments of the candidates. I hope that by examining their past, we can infer what actions they may execute once in office.

There are, however, some stipulations that require rules to a positive evaluation.
First, their experience will be for the top 10 major accomplishments where they had direct input. Second, no negative personality issues will be noted. Third, only summary explanations will be displayed (since details could only be encapsulated by a book). Lastly, the personal and private lives of the candidates will not be noted.

With the flip of a coin, I will start with...

Hillary Rodham Clinton

1) In 1977, Hillary co-founded Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families

2) In 1983, she Led a task force that reformed Arkansas's education system

While senator, Hillary sponsored three bills that became law. 

3) The first piece of legislation S.3145, designated a portion of U.S. Route 20A, located in Orchard Park, N.Y., as the “Timothy J. Russert Highway,” after the former “Meet the Press” host.

4) The second piece of legislation S. 3613, renamed the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 2951 New York Highway 43 in Averill Park, New York, as the “Major George Quamo Post Office Building.”

5) The third piece, S. 1241 made the brick house of 19th century female union leader Kate Mullany a national historic site.

        There were hundreds of other bills Hillary co-sponsored, but only in a minor supporting role, and therefore, was not included. With that said, I have decided to include a few bills that were co-sponsored with just one other author (Charles Schumer). and display them as one.

6) The first bill named a US post office as "Congresswoman Shirley A. Chisholm Post Office Building." The second bill re-designated a post office as the "James E. Davis Post Office Building." The third bill was also to re-designate another post office as "Edward O'Grady, Waverly Brown, Peter Paige Post Office Building." Lastly, they co-sponsored the Niagara Falls National Heritage Area Study Act.

7) In the aftermath of September 11th, she also worked closely with  senator Charles Schumer on securing $21.4 billion in funding for the World Trade Center redevelopment.

8) In 2012, Clinton was personally involved, in diplomatic efforts that helped get Iran to the negotiating table.

9) In 2012,Secretary of State Clinton brokered a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. Talks included Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. 

10) Became first woman in U.S. history to be nominated for president.

Bonus: Clinton won a Grammy in 1997 for 'Best Spoken Word or Non-Musical Album' for an audio recording of her book, It Takes a Village: And Other Lessons Children Teach Us.

Donald J. Trump

1) In 1980,  Mr. Trump completed construction of the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York, which was not the first of Trumps building projects, but it was the first major project.

2) In 1984, he built a casino/hotel named Harrah's, at Trump Plaza in Atlantic City. It was a complex that contained 614 rooms, 7 restaurants, health club, and showroom, and casino.

3) Wollman Rink is a public ice rink and music venue in Central Park. New York City closed it in 1980 for renovations but had problems finishing it. Trump took over and completed the project in 1986.

4) He bought Eastern airlines shuttle in 1989, was refitted and renamed Trump Shuttle, and sold in 1992. 

5) The Miss Universe, Miss USA and Miss Teen USA pageants were bought in 1996 and sold in 2015.

6) Golf courses: The Trump Organization currently owns seven golf courses in the United States and 8 international golf courses in Scotland, Ireland, England, and the United Arab Emirates.

7) Trump Towers outside the US are located in: Israel, Canada,Turkey, South Korea, United Arab Emerates, Panama, Mexico, Philippines, and India. 

  

8) Television shows - The Apprentice in 2004 and Celebrity Apprentice in 2008.

9)  Niche investments:  Trump Wine, Steak, Mortgage, University, Vodka, Ice (bottled water), etc.

10) First businessman in US history (without a previous political position) to be nominated for president. 

Bonus: Winner of Hollywood walk of Fame Star, for television in 2007 

A final note: This is not an exhaustive list of accomplishments of either candidate. I hope that when you are making decisions in your voting, you will take into consideration these previous positive accomplishments from their past.

For further details about Hillary Clinton's life, some flattering and some not so flattering, see this link. http://www.biography.com/people/hillary-clinton-9251306

For further details about Donald Trump's life, also good and bad, see link. http://www.biography.com/people/donald-trump-9511238