What Qualities Do You Look For In A President?
When I saw the title of this article, my first inclination was to not take the time to read the copy. It appeared as another run of the mill, pros and cons of the candidates piece.
Well, appearances were deceiving and I found myself engrossed in all three pages of Mr. Miller’s work. He has captured (with a bit of past history included) exactly the feeling I think many have in relation to this election cycle:
It seems clear that Senator Clinton, Senator Obama or Senator McCain will soon become the next President of the United States. Barring a catastrophe of a different sort, this is almost certain to happen to the United States –- which we enjoy calling the most powerful and most important country in the world. While perhaps jingoistic, if this view were totally off the wall the entire world would not be watching with as much fascination as it seems to be (of course, they may just be watching an amusing spectacle, like a cock fight). This makes the basic question even more important than otherwise — if only because others seem so to view us and base some of their policies on this thesis.
Why Clinton, Obama or McCain? There are more than three hundred million people in the U.S., and obviously many of them have the requisite Constitutional qualifications. It is not worth calculating the actual number, but whatever the number may be, it is humongous. I would be willing to bet that there are many millions who are constitutionally qualified and that there are thousands, if not millions, who would make far better presidents than any of the current crop, based on experience, ethics, humility and common sense. As Diogenes discovered, finding an honest person is not easy -– even with a lantern and even if there are scads of such people. We we are stuck with these three, quite possibly because nobody with more experience, ethics, humility and common sense would want the job or even accept it, except based on a rare sense of duty. Or, perhaps, because Diogenes is no longer with us.
At least a modicum of humility is essential, and few people who want to be president have much. There is none to be seen in Senator Clinton, but perhaps a little in Senators Obama and McCain.
Especially if you are among those not sold on any one of the three choices which have been presented to us at the moment (and unfortunately voting out of a sense of duty and partisanship), I don’t think you will be disappointed in the balance of this piece.
Written by Sue
David M Says:
April 6th, 2008 at 6:52 pmVisit David M
Sue-nothing brilliant from me (why should today be any different
, but what a good posting! I’ve always admired Truman for his human qualities and love of family. I also know some of my uncles in the Pacific theatre during WWII probably came home alive because he made the hard choice to drop the bomb. It’s rather a vague memory, but I think we predicted at least 500,000 Americans would have died in a land invasion of Japan.
Sue Says:
April 6th, 2008 at 8:44 pmVisit Sue
David:
I am so glad you enjoyed this piece.
It just seemed to capture the feelings of so many I speak to about this Presidential election.