Political parties seem fond of referring to their members as “the adults in charge.” Is that the case with our ambitious, publicity-seeking Secretary of State, who naively failed to anticipate potential ramifications of her showboating effort to influence the upcoming presidential election. It amounts to a unilateral declaration of partisan warfare by an appointed official, ironically one with a Peace Corps background.

The unprecedented action inevitably reflects on her party, which surely must have been alerted to the intention. Whatever the case, it is an obvious invitation to retribution that only would reinforce growing public unrest about our national direction and media-stoked conflict between candidate criminality and personality.

America’s threatening autocratic enemies must be amused by the extent of its evident internal divisiveness. It remains to be seen whether the real adults are the 2024 voters expected to elect leadership in our Constitutional democracy.

Phil Osifer