Did the presidential race really set a bad example?

How many times have you heard somebody complain about the presidential race setting a bad example?

“This campaign has been a bad example for our children,” and, “Personal attacks coming from politicians give a green light to bullies,” they say.

How many times have you heard that?

But all the finger-wagging is not going to change it. That’s the world we live in.

Related: Half of us won’t mind if Donald Trump can’t keep promises

Once upon a time, the media mediated all that stuff. We could decide which candidates were credible enough to get coverage. We could spike any angle that we thought was too undignified for public debate.

But today, people don’t need no stinkin’ editors.

So politicians are free to revert even more deeply into their feral nature, which is to do whatever it takes to win.

But here’s the positive part: As bad as the personal attacks were during the campaign, it’s only fair to acknowledge how quickly they stopped.

Trump shook hands with the man he called incompetent, and President Barack Obama, who only a few days earlier was barnstorming swing states calling Trump unfit –– what did he say Monday?

“I don’t think he is ideological. I think ultimately he is pragmatic,” Obama explained.

Coming from the pragmatist-in-chief, that is the ultimate compliment.

And that, I think is actually a pretty good example for the kids.

They’re not abandoning their beliefs, they still have their differences, but they didn’t stop their cars in traffic, pull out baseball bats and bash out each other’s windows. They were able to call a truce and say what’s past is past, and from now on, we’re going to act like grownups — until the mid-term elections.

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