When a president is replaced by a 'president'

So it kind of got lost this week amid all the "bimbo"-eruptions, militia martyrs, and debate follies, but President Obama wrote something -- an essay calling in the nation to rethink the use of solitary confinement in prisons, here in the country with the highest incarceration rate of any developed nation. His piece appeared in The Washington Post. Here's an excerpt:

The United States is a nation of second chances, but the experience of solitary confinement too often undercuts that second chance. Those who do make it out often have trouble holding down jobs, reuniting with family and becoming productive members of society. Imagine having served your time and then being unable to hand change over to a customer or look your wife in the eye or hug your children.

As president, my most important job is to keep the American people safe. And since I took office, overall crime rates have decreased by more than 15 percent. In our criminal justice system, the punishment should fit the crime — and those who have served their time should leave prison ready to become productive members of society. How can we subject prisoners to unnecessary solitary confinement, knowing its effects, and then expect them to return to our communities as whole people? It doesn't make us safer. It's an affront to our common humanity.

Powerful words, but then Obama is the president, so he also has the power to make things -- some things, anyway -- happen. At the same time he published his op-ed, Obama announced that he was taking executive action to ban the use of solitary for juvenile offenders in federal prisons, in conjunction with new rules to bar prison officials from using solitary as a punishment for low-level violations and to strictly curtail the length of time that certain prisoners can be tossed in "the hole."

Obama's move was humane, dignified. measured...not shouted from the rooftops. It was kind of typical of the 4th quarter of his presidency, his best two years in the White House by far. Far too much of the first six years of Obama's administration was wasted on ill-conceived moves -- seeking grand budget deals with Republicans whose only goal in politics was to destroy him, or continuing some of the worst Bush-Cheney policies on national security. But since the mid-term election in 2014, Obama seems to have obtained a firm grasp on a) what an American president realistically can and can't accomplish in the 2010s, and b) just what exactly it is he wants to accomplish.

The 44th POTUS has been a warrior for diplomacy on multiple fronts, from Cuba to climate change to Iran's nuclear program, and for unwinding some of the out-of-control domestic policies of the last 35 years, on mass incarceration, militarized policing, and the failed "war on drugs." With an unrelentingly hostile Congress, Obama has established a process for at least nudging the nation forward on multiple fronts, from using the so-called "Bully Pulpit" of the presidency to shape public opinion, while issuing executive orders to change policy direction where he can (such as within the federal prison system).

It's hard to believe that in less than 10 months, Americans are going to toss all of this in the trash and set it on fire.

The Republican frontrunner to replace Obama also fashions himself as something of a writer. Here's something, in fact, that Donald J. Trump authored just this morning, at the ripe hour of 6 a.m.: ""I refuse to call Megyn Kelly a bimbo, because that would not be politically correct," Trump wrote. "Instead I will only call her a lightweight reporter!"

Will 2016 go down in history as the year America becomes the first major world power to by governed by...entertainment values, when we replaced the 44th president with our 1st "drama king" in the Oval Office. Say what you will about Trump's "ideology" (which seems to be mainly xenophobia...with some trade restrictions tossed in), but the real contribution of the short-fingered vulgarian, honed by his years on TV's "The Apprentice," is understanding that everyday Americans will click on a reality show over a traditional political campaign everytime. The truth is that a segment of the U.S. electorate has craved this kind of charade for years -- but Trump is the first candidate to give the people what the want. The Kanye-vs.Whiz level of crass personal feuds, the vicious attacks on The Other, the carnival of distractions like the Sarah Palin endorsement. All of it pure, non-stop ratings gold.

The other day, David Axelrod, who was once Obama's political director (and a good guy even if he did play a role in foisting John Street on Philadelphia in 1999), wrote a fascinating piece this week on how he underestimated the extent to which voters would want to replace "No Drama" Obama with his polar opposite. "Relentlessly edgy, confrontational and contemptuous of the niceties of governance and policy making," Axelrod wrote, "Mr. Trump is the perfect counterpoint to a president whose preternatural cool and deliberate nature drive his critics mad."

That is, indeed, Politics 101. I was up in New York City when loudmouth Ed Koch was replaced by the low-key and dignified David Dinkins, who was quickly replaced by loudmouth Rudy Giuliani. Here in Philadelphia, Jim Kenney seems a heck of a lot different from Michael Nutter. People always want "change"...The Opposite!, as they said on Seinfeld.

But does it really have to be this way? It's hard to imagine a President Trump putting his name to a thoughtful piece about criminal justice reform. Heck, Trump doesn't even really have foreign policy or domestic policy advisers, with the Iowa caucuses less than a week away. All he has going for him is his NBC-honed reality-show instincts...is that really enough to run America?

Trump may not be in our political future; if the Obama coalition of '08 and '12 holds, we'll be talking next year about a President Clinton (again!) or a President Sanders and how will they ever deal with this Congress. If that's the case, they should thank Obama for establishing a new template for leadership in a time of gridlock. If things break differently in November....God help us.