Do you feel qualified to be President? Sure...you may be over 35 and born a citizen. Constitutionally, you are qualified.
But going by more than just a legal definition, I am becoming increasingly convinced that there are not a lot of human beings that are capable of handling this job. How many? In a nation of 300 million, maybe 300.
Think about what it means to be President...you have to have an intimate knowledge of all workings of government, not just the stuff that ends up on the news every night. You have to have a temperament that allows you to multi-task, work hard, not get frustrated, not quit, and again multi-task to the point that you can juggle a hundred balls in the air at once, because, you are the Decider. You have to be relatively free of scandal, both real and perceived. And you have to have the intelligence that only a few people have, tempered by the wisdom of age and experience.
For all the cries that people have that 'I don't want a politician!' to be president, don't we want somebody who knows what is going on? Somebody who has paid their dues? Somebody whose life has not been a celebration of self-interest but public service? I know...it's easy to say we don't want somebody who knows what the job will really involve. But would you want a CEO who has no knowledge of their industry and thus only sees the bottom line, not customers or products or employees? Would you want a major league baseball manager who doesn't know the techniques of bat control or the ins and outs of handling a multi-national clubhouse? Would you want a preacher who just recently started to study Scripture?
Being qualified matters...and likely there are very few who are truly qualified. The biggest mark against Obama was his lack of experience, and while he has done well given his inexperience (remember, he had been a state senator less than 10 seasons before becoming president!), one wonders whether or not he might have been a great president with a little more seasoning. I am thinking that being a Governor, Senator, or Cabinet secretary should be the minimum requirement; more than one of those is likely needed to get both the executive experience and the overall knowledge needed. So how many are left who have done this...300? This doesn't even begin to phase out those who were dunderheads or bad at their job; these usually get sorted out quick enough in the primaries.
And so this leads us to our election...we have two people who have a chance to win. I am voting for neither, instead deciding to vote for Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson, who was once a governor. I wish he could win, but he can't get above about 12% so he has little or no shot. The other two candidates are Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. One has vast experience, as a first lady (don't tell me that doesn't help somebody know what to expect), Senator, and Cabinet secretary. Is she scandal-prone? Absolutely. Do I like her? No. But compared to the alternative, who has no experience, no willingness to learn, and nothing to indicate anything beyond a concern with himself, and I'll take Hillary any day of the week, even when I don't always agree with her policies.
A Hillary presidency will be...not fun. But a Trump presidency? Get the fire extinguishers ready, because the mother of all dumpster fires is coming.
