photo #9426213

Smiles like these get sold as proof that the country has finally grown up. What they actually show is a political class that treats the flag, the border, and the Constitution as optional props for a campaign photo.One woman wears the symbols of a faith that still punishes apostasy and treats women as second-class in much of the world. The man beside her has spent years apologizing for American power while courting the activists who cheer when that power is checked. Together they look less like neighbors and more like a coalition that wants the old rules rewritten.Voters are not obligated to clap for the rewrite. A nation that cannot say what it stands for will eventually be told what it stands for by people who never intended to keep it.