James Comey's book, "A Higher Loyalty"

I have just finished reading James Comey's book, "A Higher Loyalty."

Unlike, it seems, some of the commentators and pundits, I actually read every word of it.

Those who claim it is a book about Donald Trump either haven't read the whole book, don't understand it, or are lying.  It is not a book about Donald Trump.  It is a book about leadership.

I don't know if he made the right decisions about the FBI's investigation of Hillary Clinton's e-mails.  I'm actually not sure.  But, I know that, according to his book, he had reasons for the decisions he made.  He discussed those reasons with the staff working on the case(s).  And he accepts responsibility for those decisions.

I remember something someone said about James Comey.  I disagree with many of the policy decisions he has made, but I have never known James Comey to lie.

I was struck by two things he says near the end of the book.

"I am writing in a time of great anxiety in my country.  I understand the anxiety, but also believe America is going to be fine.  I choose to see opportunity as well as danger."

"... I choose to be optimistic.  Yes, the current president will do significant damage in the short term.  Important norms and traditions will be damaged by the flames.  But forest fires, as painful as they can be, bring growth.  They spur growth that was impossible before the fire, when old trees crowded out new plants on the forest floor.  I already see new life - young people engaged as never before, and the media, the courts, academics, non-profits, and all other parts of civil society finding reason to bloom."

Now, I don't assume that America is going to be fine.  It depends on the decisions we make going forward.  It has in the past.  It always has.  In the past, we have made decisions that kept America progressing.  There is no guarantee that we will continue to make those kinds of decisions.  But, don't count us out.

I will try to be as optimistic as James Comey.