Judd Gregg: Trump and Clinton are two sides of one coin

By Judd Gregg - 05-16-16 06:00 AM EDT

If either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton are elected in November - and it is all but certain one of them will be - then for the first time in anyone's memory we will be swearing in a president whom more than half the country either does not like or does not trust.

This will be a difficult starting point for the new president.

Historically, new presidents are given the benefit of the doubt by most Americans. Their support dissipates over time, of course, but there is the famous - and real - "first 100 days" grace period after their inauguration when many new presidents can move quickly on their campaign agendas.

This gift of grace will not be bestowed upon either President Hillary Clinton or President Donald Trump. Either one will face voluminous, vocal and aggressive opposition from the very start.

This is not a good thing, for them or the country.

It is also emblematic of a much deeper issue for our culture and the way we govern.

Our nature as a people has always been optimistic. Our upbeat, can-do culture is one of the things that most starkly divides us from the rest of the world and gives us an advantage in so many ways.

This election is challenging this inherently positive nature that is so specifically American. The larger coarsening of the political culture is amplifying the effect.

Donald Trump has built his campaign on the theme that everything he dislikes is "rigged." He constantly tells his followers that their problems are not of their doing but are the consequence of a system that is being manipulated against them.

In Trump's view, America is simply not a fair place and folks who are unhappy with the way their life is going; or are concerned about their economic future; or who fear for their security, have the right to blame these difficulties on someone else. Their problems are being caused by someone who is doing better or by a system that is stacked against them.

Trump's view is the other side of the same coin that Clinton is using. She is carrying forward with gusto the claim of President Obama that American society is unjust.

The Obama-Clinton view is that we are a society of a few winners and everyone else. They have given new energy to a form of class warfare. In that battle, the many are pitted against the few. Progress will come not by raising up the many, they believe, but by reducing the success of the few.

Both approaches are essentially replicating the European model of governance, which is based on class and victimhood.

They are a clear departure from the American spirit, which in turn is built on the fact that we are an immigrant society.

People come here because America is structured around the idea of opportunity generated by hard work, creativity and a willingness to take risks.

We have not historically been attracted to the ideas that have caused Europe to stagnate.

But we now have our two major candidates for president setting us off on a completely different road than that which has raised up our nation and our people since our beginnings. This is not healthy.

If there is an Obama legacy, it is this departure from the norm that has defined America's soul. He genuinely believes, and continues to speak about, America not being a fair place.

Obama has governed according to this worldview. Seeing America in the negative, he has infused the political marketplace with this destructive tone.

Now both presidential candidates have adopted a continuation of his theme, albeit adapted to their own personalities.

It is not surprising that the majority of Americans do not like this approach or the candidates.

This is because another characteristic of Americans is common sense.

Their common sense tells most Americans that this a special place, where the operative words are not "class" or "victim" but "opportunity" and "initiative."

Judd Gregg (R) is a former governor and three-term senator from New Hampshire who served as chairman and ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, and as ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Foreign Operations subcommittee. He has endorsed Jeb Bush in this year's presidential race.