The results in the 2016 Presidential Election should not have been a surprise.
The Candidate Matters.
The Message Matters.
The Vision Matters.
The Passion Matters.
The candidate is the messenger and in today's media world - 'charisma' a Greek word meaning "charm that can inspire devotion in others" - really matters!
In today's 24-hour news and information cycle you need a compelling messenger to get the attention and win the devotion of the voter.
Whatever else you might want to say about Donald Trump he had a unique " tell it like it is charisma " ... and in fact he was so compelling and interesting to watch that the media could not stop following him.
Bernie Sanders also had his own special charisma and his message and commitment to his cause were genuine and compelling as was clear from the devotion of his followers.
Hillary Clinton although a very accomplished individual does not possess this special gift..and unfairly or not she is burdened with the constant comparison to both her husband and Barack Obama.
Listening to the voters matters! For about 20 years voters have been voting for change and politicians and pundits have not understood what they are saying.
This is especially true of hard working Americans who have taken the entire brunt of U.S. policy on globalization and trade.
The fact is there is a large segment of the American middle class workforce that was once proud, hard working individuals who could feed their families and expect a better life for their children. They now live in shuttered and dying towns.
Their jobs have vanished as we simply stopped making things in America.
It may be true that moving production to the lowest cost labor source is good for global companies but it is devastating to the people who were once employed by these industrial giants of global business.
Companies who do not belong to any country or any community feel no duty or responsibility to any individual citizen of any nation.
It has also been the willingness of both Democratic and Republican administrations alike to let this practice accelerate and continue, while offering empty promises about new jobs and retraining-- that frankly make no sense, almost always offering less compensation and no hope for a brighter future.
The plain and simple fact is that a 50 year skilled worker who could once support and feed his or her family does not want to be re-trained to operate a steamroller to build highways.
Trump was able to give voice to the plight of these forgotten Americans and his message resonated with his supporters driving them to the polls in record numbers on November 8.
This is not just a U.S. problem. It is a problem of the industrialized west and this is part of the reason for the success of the Brexit vote and perhaps foreshadows some of the upcoming votes in other European countries.
So where do the Players go from here?
To quote Dylan Thomas...Will Hillary "go gentle into that good night"...Or will she "rage, rage against the dying of the light?"
Will she continue to place the blame for her loss at the feet of FBI Director James Comey or with reflection will she take a more Trumanesque approach and take full responsibility for her loss?
Will she be comfortable with the title "Doyenne of The Democratic Party" as Eleanor Roosevelt was decades before?
Or will she re-invent herself in another role in a second or third act?
Remember it was Richard Nixon who in his so-called "last press conference" in November of 1962, following his loss to Democratic incumbent Pat Brown in the California gubernatorial election, when he appeared before 100 reporters at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, and lashed out at the media, proclaiming that "you don't have Nixon to kick around any more, because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference."
Well the original "Come Back Kid" Nixon fooled them all as he was elected president twice, defeating LBJ's Vice President Hubert Humphrey in 1968 and George McGovern in 1972.
Nixon in his post-Watergate years took on the role of elder statesman and in many ways re-invented and redeemed himself once again from his lowest point - departing the White House in disgrace to avoid impeachment.
As the Democrats shuffle to find their footing after this stunningly unexpected defeat who will emerge as the next Democratic Standard Bearer?
Will it be Senator Bernie Sanders who gave the youth of our nation a reason to believe that they too could have their own Revolution in their own time?
Sanders will undoubtedly link arms with his fellow Senate Democrats like incoming Leader Chuck Schumer, Elizabeth Warren and others who will use every opportunity to "rage against the dying of the light" and keep the new president's feet to the fire.
Will Bill Clinton and his daughter Chelsea have to accept the fact that their days of White House living are now only a cherished memory? Or will Chelsea decide to take on the challenge following in her parents footsteps.
As President Obama returns to his White House home from a week abroad meeting with World Leaders, the question is - Will he move more swiftly through those five stages of grief - beyond denial, anger, bargaining, depression and on to acceptance?
Will he finally realize for his own sake and for the sake of the Nation, that President Donald Trump and his agenda are a reality, and if successful, President Trump might reverse much of what he had hoped would be his legacy from his eight-year contribution as president?
In less than two months time our new president will be confronted with the enormous responsibility of being the leader of a great nation following in the footsteps of Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Lincoln, FDR, JFK and Reagan.
POTUS Trump is no longer CEO Trump. Trump is not a Monarch, TV Star or a kid from Queens.
As he gathers his Cabinet and his team of advisors he must keep in mind that as president he must "preside" over a Congress of 535 individuals many of whom he has insulted and attempted to humiliate while making his bid for The White House.
As so-called "Leader of The Free World" on January 20 - when the Inaugural parade is over and he sits behind that Oval Office desk - President Trump must also begin in earnest an effort to bring together the other World Leaders, many of whom he has insulted and many who continue to express their own fear and anxiety as to what a Trump America would mean to global stability and survival.
There are those who have said that Trump really didn't want this job....It was just a big ego exercise...He will get bored, feel restricted and will lose interest.
I don't quite agree. As a kid who also grew up in Queens, I believe Donald J. Trump will do everything he can do get it right...there is simply too much at stake for him not to give it everything he has got.
The awesomeness of this newly acquired position may move him in directions he may never have imagined.
So, to quote the most colourful character Malvolio from Shakespeare's play "Twelfth Night"
"Some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them."
Now that the potential for greatness has been thrust upon our new 45th U.S. President Trump, will he be able to rise to the occasion for the American people and the World?