The Three Necessary Characteristics of a President (and VP!)
I think people should be looking at three main characteristics when choosing a president and his/her vice president. Here I will describe these characteristics, why I think they’re important, and how they relate to the current election.
1. Intelligence – I think fundamental qualities dominate; if you are intelligent, you will tend to do more things intelligently. In a president the benefits of intelligence are obvious…being more experienced with critical thinking will better prepare the candidate to make major decisions. A good education will also grant a better understanding of a broader range of issues, enabling him/her to understand situations quicker and make more effective choices.
Unfortunately, a significant portion of America does not regard intelligence as a necessary presidential characteristic. I suspect the uneducated rationalize that since they’ve done just fine in the game of life, education is an overrated attribute. But voting for an unintelligent president is analogous to allowing your local mechanic to perform your triple-bypass surgery. For tough jobs, education and intelligence is very, very important, and the president of the United States is the toughest job around.
Considering the current candidates, Barack Obama graduated from an Ivy League school consistently rated among the best in America, and pursued his law degree at Harvard. John McCain graduated from Annapolis Naval Academy at the bottom of his class. Now while intelligence and education are not interchangeable, as I have insinuated here at points, a person who has done worse in the education system typically needs a demonstrable edge to pull ahead of his/her more educated colleagues. I don’t see McCain as having that edge, so this contest is at best a push for him.
2. Integrity – Or at least, what passes for integrity in the mire of politics. As a citizen in a democratic nation, I want to believe that the president will not abuse his powers at the expense of the nation’s best interests. I’d also want to more or less believe he is representing his/her character and policies faithfully.
Integrity is always a focus of elections, yet it is one of the hardest attributes to measure. It is easy to cite voting records or the qualities of individual bills out of context. It is also often hard to trace the motivations for “flip flopping,” which could range from the abjectly political to more benign evolutions of opinion. I personally feel that while we can nibble at this issue, often through rather subjective means such as behavioral analysis, it is difficult to get a good understanding of the candidate’s integrity without a comprehensive look at their voting record, including the context and complete understanding of each bill voted on. I would even go so far as to say that only insiders, people who are intimately close with the workings of the legislative branch, can ever truly understand who has the best interests of the nation at heart.
For what it’s worth, I felt McCain had a great deal of integrity before his campaign for president began this year. I know Al Franken, for example, has written approvingly of McCain’s sense of honor. I also appreciated McCain’s voting against the Bush tax cuts, which indicated his willingness to do what he believed was best in spite of party pressure. However, in part due to his reversal on this particular issue, I now question how much of his “maverick” voting was designed to separate himself from the rest of his party and therefore secure his nomination. Lately, his campaign’s attempts to defame Obama have placed another black feather in the once proud senator’s cap. As for Obama, the main reason I would support him more than any other political creature is his early rallies against the Iraq war. Though he was not a Senator at the time, there’s little doubt that anti-war sentiment was a politically unpopular stance, and thus reflects positively on his integrity.
3. Perspective – Perspective, or judgement, is the ability of the candidate to allocate finite attention and resources appropriately. The president is one man or woman, and has four to eight years to significantly influence the nation’s path. A candidate with good perspective will purport to address the nation’s greatest weaknesses in sensible ways. After all, what good is intelligence and integrity if you’re dead set on fighting the wrong battles?
I think we can all agree that President Bush has demonstrated exceptionally poor judgement during his time in office. Whatever good may come out of the protracted Iraq War, it’s doubtful the exorbitant resources committed could not have been used for more pressing domestic (or foreign) issues. I have personally long maintained that reducing the national debt and improving the public education system are the two highest priorities for the U.S., and I continue to look for those qualities in a president.
The Iraq War of course continues to be an important issue, and candidates should intelligently weigh the value of committing $10 billion a month to our new Middle Eastern “ally.” Not surprisingly, I think Obama’s aggressive desire to end the war is merited and demonstrates good perspective, especially in light of America’s reeling domestic state. As for McCain, I question his judgement in appointing Sarah Palin as his running mate, who demonstrates on a daily basis her gross unfitness for the office.
There can be many factors that go into supporting a presidential candidate, but I think important that we as a nation do not lose our way. The voting population needs to remember the high standards required for such an important position, and the very real consequences brought about by supporting the unfit. Though I sincerely hope we never see another George W. Bush in our lifetimes, the results of the upcoming election will go a long way towards making me believe it can happen.
