I was watching the second Republican debate last night and
unlike the other paid and non-paid political pundits I didn’t come to any
conclusions.
There are so many articles about “who won”. Each writer is
very eager to tell us what they think. And well, that is what political pundits
do, so I am not overly critical here. And I could be snippy and say there were
no winners, just that the American people lost (again). And if CNN received tons of advertising
support they may have been one of the winners like FOX News the first time.
What did we learn, what did I learn, what did we get, what
did I get, I am unsure. This was not a debate anywhere close to a classical
sense. And I do not think people were expecting one. We may actually have one
next fall when it boils down to the two selected candidates. And I do believe
based on history we will receive more of a true policy and campaign debate.
Last night is still a show, but what is the show about. Does this come anywhere
close to helping us decide who we might want as President?
I think not and from reading some of the articles I am not
alone. Everyone wants to discuss how well Mr. Trump performed and did the
others measure up or gain ground. My thoughts are heading in a different
direction now.
I am sure you have read hundreds of articles about why Mr.
Trump is popular, will he continue to thrive, or when is his eventual downfall.
And many have come to the conclusion the large part of his popularity rests on
him being a non-politician. He is the ultimate outsider in this race and is
tapping into the general populace’s anger towards Washington and career
politicians. Yet even then, it is only the people who have strong opinions
about his most infamous issue. I am wondering how strong his numbers would be
if he hadn’t come out of the gate with all his fireworks. So every pundit asks
when will true policy dialogue bring him down? I don’t know. And last night was
not a very strong policy discussion for anyone. Everything was predictable
including the barbs thrown around.
So I stopped listening to the words and just started
watching them. And I came to a strange conclusion. None of them seem
Presidential. And yes being Presidential or Presidential character is a concept.
In fact, there is a whole industry devoted to the discussion. I knew this in
advance, but I went ahead and “googled” the words presidential character and
got 3.2 million hits. And of course there were multiple ads for a wide variety
of books discussing the subject. And I even ran across one book I read before: The
Presidential Character by James David Barber. It has been many years so I do
not remember much about it. There are others, some on individual Presidents and
some just on the topic.
And thinking about this and watching the candidates I tried
to picture them giving a State of the Union address, or watching them go live one
evening when my favorite show is interrupted by breaking news and the President
speaking. I just do not see one of them as a President. And this includes the
Democrats. I am long not a fan of Ms. Clinton and I haven’t seen too much of
Mr. Sanders, but overall I do not see them as being Presidential. Joe Biden,
you ask, well I think he is perfect for a vice president. I do not like many of
his political views, however, he is someone you could actually see being able
to handle a crisis situation if thrown into office. I know many would agree,
but if you think about his personality and even though it is light in some
respect he has a grasp of the situation and I think would respond. You may not
like his answers, but he would be able to handle the situation. As an elected
President though, I do not seem him as Presidential.
And whenever this country faces a crisis we always seem to
find someone to be our President to fit the situation. Many people do not like
Jimmy Carter, but they forget the country was going through an ethical crisis
and Mr. Carter was the right person for the job. Sometimes our Presidents are
elected because they fit the situation. Sometimes they are elected because we
need something done.
Obviously Mr. Franklin Roosevelt is well known for this
situation. We were in dire straits as a country and the people wanted someone
who was ready and willing to act. Other Presidents that faced crisis lived up
to the challenge. Mr. Reagan came along in a time of turmoil and provided what
American wanted to hear to feel good about our country again. And there have
been some Presidents that quite frankly were horrible. They rode out their time
and unfortunately the country suffered some.
So did they become Presidential after being in office or did
they have some aspect of them that gave them the ability to be Presidential? I
say for the Presidents who responded to the situation the answer is they had it
coming into office.
So where does that leave us now? We are actually facing
multiple crisis, but no one seems up to the challenge. Think back about last
night and unless you already have a favorite who would you want handling
another hard recession, negotiating with Putin, Iran, or North Korea, dealing
with a major catastrophe larger than Katrina or Sandy, or some unknown ISIS
disaster. I was watching them and they can’t even handle being rude to each other.
How are they going to impress me going forward?
The pundits say Trump is taking away some of the polling
numbers for the other candidates and at some point everyone will come to their
senses and we will have a more established candidate. Mr. Trump may eventually
start to fade, but right now I don’t think he will at least because no one is
representing them self as Presidential. Mr. Trump’s bravado has some people confused,
but this is not really Presidential. Yet who commands the respect of the
Republican masses if and when Mr. Trump fades. Will Dr. Carson actually move
up, does Ms. Fiorina set the masses on fire, or will one of the established
candidates finally distinguish them self? Oh eventually we will get a nominee,
but from either the Republicans or Democrats I am worried about who we get.
I know dear reader that you know I am always supporting an independent
or new major party candidate to rise up and save us. Unfortunately right now
that doesn’t look like it will happen. So I ask you think about who you would really
want to be President. And maybe not an individual person, but what type of
person. In some ways Mitt Romney looked
Presidential, strong and firm looking man, healthy, etc., but deep down there
was something missing. So you are going to have to get past the surface to
truly indulge in this exercise
Do not limit yourself
to the current set of candidates. It can
be a Democrat or Republican, independent, or third party yet who is truly ready
to take on the problems of the world. Do not try to place your preferred agenda
into the decision. Honestly think to yourself who can be President. The lack of
answer may scare you as much as it does me.
Is there a T Roosevelt or A Lincoln or G Washington or J
Kennedy or T Jefferson or J Adams out there, or are we doomed to another G
Cleveland, W Wilson, C Coolidge, or U Grant? Or worse or better? Is there a
steady influence of D Eisenhower, who may only do a few things, but gives us
what we need to hold steady? Mr. Eisenhower did two things that I always
remember, he contributed to the building of the interstate highway system and
he told the truth. Who can you trust now? Actually I think there might be some
possible trust for some, but big picture, what would it take for them to show
you they can be trusted?
J Kennedy didn’t do that much either, more known for his
handling of a crisis and more importantly thrusting the United States into a
space race that showed we were more than a military cold war machine. Just
think the two events, the highway system and the space industry have created
more jobs and done more for our country than most people imagine. Can we find
someone who will eventually steer the country into new productive paths?
So John/Jane Doe run for President. Please. Give us someone
new that isn’t establishment, but can also light our fire with positive energy
and new programs. Where are you? I am not going to say we need you, we have
survived with horrible Presidents before, but we need you in different ways.
The world is ever changing and we need to change with it to continue to be a
great country.
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