What kind of President do we want?
by Jim on Feb.05, 2012, under Politics
I am back from Las Vegas and still have the shirt I left with. Great city and although our president discourages Americans from going there, I do! I also want to thank Paul for his always sterling performance as editor when I am away. In that regard, I would like to follow up on a topic he raised in his last article, and one that generated a fair amount of discussion. “What kind of president do you want?”
Should the person be better than you ? More experienced? Have accomplished more? Be more worldly and better travelled? Have a wider variety of interests and friendships? Be kinder and gentler? Be more moral? These are great questions and really hit home. Tuesday we will have the Colorado Caucus, and I intend to go and speak for Mitt Romney.
I think he has accomplished more than me; Is better attuned to the financial world than I will ever be; Is a good family man with a strong moral streak; and is more experienced in the world as a whole than me. I think he is a fine choice for president. He is not better than me as a person, but as a presidential candidate he is infinitely better than me, and I think that is what Paul was referring to.
Now lets look for a moment at the current president. I think I can speak for many of you by saying that he is not better qualified than us. We have more experience in geopolitics than him. We have more business experience than him. We have a wider and more diverse group of friends than him. We understand the military and diplomacy better. We have traveled more and lived in more foreign countries. We have never used drugs or associated with racists and radicals. We worked our way up and were not given special treatment. Our flaws are there for all to see and not covered up by a sycophantic media. I consider all of us to be better than him as president.
I understand the sentiment about wanting someone better and more accomplished than us to be president or why not just run yourself? As such, I am very disappointed with Mr Gingrich and Mr Santorum. They both have flaws that in my mind make them unsuitable to support, especially Newt.
It’s great to be back and I look forward to lots of healthy back and forth on these issues as we move toward what I hope is a new day for America.
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Greetings from 7020 feet and the high frontier of Colorado Springs. This is a web log of topics with a curent flair. The posts include political, military, security and intelligence related topics and links, as well as items on sports, especially big 12 football, entertainment, and book reviews. This blog allows me to view and comment on the world around me, and hopefully elicit reaction and initiate discussions with you , my friends and readers. My goal is to enable all of us to have a vehicle to learn, exchange ideas, grow, and have fun. I welcome your comments and hope you enjoy this journey into the high frontier.
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February 6th, 2012 on 5:55 am
I think the comment in the previous post wasn’t an expectation that a president be flawless (who of us are?)… it was a repudiation that a president needed to have such flaws (the counterpoints demonstrating marital infidelity) to be relatable and therefore be desirable as a president.
What qualities would I want in a president in areas I want him (or her) to be better than me? Rephrased, another way to ask that question would be, what would I need to improve on to become a good president (and maybe some improvements can be made, and some a limited by our natural capacity or choices we’ve made)…
…I want a president who can see the big picture. I want one who favors realism over idealism when it comes to world politics. I want someone who doesn’t have legitimate dirt in their past so they can show credible character both at home and abroad. I want someone who knows that the price of freedom sometimes requires blood, but I don’t want someone who spends blood on the interests of other people and other national interests unless it also is required for our own. I want someone who knows our way of life is the best out there, and isn’t willing to sacrifice it to appease world opinion. For Americans, there is no higher court in this world than our own. (For those of faith who read your blog, note I said *in* this world.) I want someone who will view things through a constitutional bias. I want someone who will be able to distinguish personal religious values (meaning a private choice that Americans can make in different directions) from constitutional values (those which apply to all of us) and are applicable to Law. I want someone who lives at home by the values they publicly support to which they hold others. If you judge others but won’t live up to your own standards, then maybe you shouldn’t consider office. If you fail to live up to your standards at home, soften your rhetoric–I want someone who is honest with themselves. I want someone who believes in smaller government, freedom to innovate and trade–government cannot create value/wealth… it can only borrow it. But I also want someone who knows you can’t right your course by yanking so hard on the wheel that you flip the car. I want someone who prioritizes science and math learning over arts and entertainment, but they do this being an inspiring role model that people listen to rather than throwing tax dollars at the problem. I do want someone who can see the difference between free market capitalism and bullish corporatism… the private citizen should have some rights against industrial money making. (Government exists to prevent violence–as Ron Paul says, to stop the bully). I want someone who understands that a modern military is required for continued freedom and prosperity, and that costs money–tax revenue. I want someone who won’t sacrifice constitutional freedom in some misguided notion of political or religious respect (sharia law, for example)… not all cultural practices are equal (In fact, I would argue that most are not equal). But I start to repeat myself now.
Does this person exist in the ideal? Probably not… but it’s something to weigh against.
February 6th, 2012 on 8:09 am
Wow. This comment is worthy of an op-ed piece in a major newspaper. Would that all US citizens felt the same way.
February 6th, 2012 on 9:43 am
Kspml… Right On! This is an outstanding treasure of concise and incisive thinking about what a president should be.
I would hope that our Judeo-Christian values would always fit within “applicable” laws. However, we are beginning to see a change for the worse in the way the government assaults these values.
February 7th, 2012 on 5:20 pm
I too agree with what kpsm has to say – except for his/her comment about prioritizing math and science education to the detriment of “arts and entertainment.” My problem here is the conflation of the two. Are we to equate an episode of Dancing with the Stars with Michael Smuin’s choreography of the Mozart C Minor Mass? Are we to equate a video game (as impressive as the graphics may be) with Salvador Dali’s Crucifixion, or Botticelli’s Venus, or the cave paintings at Lascaux? Entertainment is mindless diversion, whereas the arts engage the mind. From Homer’s Odyssey to Van Gogh’s Starry Night, the arts are—and have always been—the signature of a civilization.