The Primaries are where your voice is heard. If you show up to vote in November with a clothespin on your nose, it is no one's fault but your own. Ask yourself some hard questions about the man (or woman) you want to see carved on the next Mount Rushmore.
1. Is this candidate a capital "P" Patriot, or are his aspirations born of a different motive?
2. When you hear an interview given by this person who wishes to sit in your Oval Office, does he answer real questions with real answers or can you parse the replies and find nothing but verbal vomit?
3. A television camera turns this presidential hopeful into a preening diva or a humble stumbler? Imagine George Washington with a mic in his face.
4.On a personal wealth scale, will the Presidency make no difference in this candidate's net worth or will it make him wealthy beyond his natural abilities? Is this person made of the mettle to give up his very life, not to mention his fortune, to assume this office?
5. When you imagine a world where we are hated by half the planet's population, does this person have the stones to defend America on the international playground, or will this candidate take his marbles and go home when the game gets nasty and someone calls him a mean old name like "intolerant" or "cowboy"?
6. Does this candidate believe in something higher than himself or go about denying his need for a moral compass?
Get real with the answers to these few questions and make up some tough ones of your own. Our American Democracy is a big picture that requires a long view to see the many smaller parts. If you cannot say that you have helped shape your small section, you are free to leave. There is a pile of Mexicans a mile high who will be glad to pick up your chisel.
And for half the price.
The issue of wealth is spurious. The president's salary is substantial, but by no means grand. People do--or can--make money once they leave the White House by writing books, making speeches, and so on, but no reasonable person would endure the rigors of running for or being president for the salary.
The more serious problem is that running for president is so expensive that people have to raise enormous sums to have a hope of competing. That's a lot easier to do, especially in the critical early "getting off the ground" stage of a campaign, if one already has access to a network of wealthy donors--something that is much more likely for a person who is already rich.
[JANE SAYS: It is the title "POTUS" that earns the $$$ after the fact. CERTAINLY no one "makes" mney off the salary---not what I meant to imply AT ALL. And knowing wealthy folks to donate and being one yourself is OLD. Everyone one thinks our Founders were these dirt farmers. PLEEEEASE. Land = Wealth back in the day and no one that ever became a U.S President would ever be accused of being a pauper. That only happens in the movies. I guess I am trying to prod about the VALUE of money to this would-be President. Is he already rich enough that any prestige of being the POTUS would be insignificant? Or , like Hillary Clintin, the MAKING of a vast fortune, only gotten for having sat in the Oval Office.
Again, I was not clear in my zeal ...sorry. DEFINITELY not trying to spark some class argument. Wealth has ALWAYS equalled political clout since the beginning of time. "ANYONE CAN BE PRESIDENT" is one of the greatest myths foisted on a romantic electorate.]
Posted by: George | February 19, 2007 at 10:45 AM
If a candidate cannot handle the logistics and financing of a presidential campaign, I hope like hell they don't get ahold of a trillion dollar budget and the myriad of problems centered towards the Oval Office.
The campaign for president is not too expensive, it is the election of a fool *cough*Carter*cough* that is too expensive.
[AND JANE SAYS: AMEN.]
Posted by: mRed | February 19, 2007 at 10:58 AM
"Land = Wealth back in the day "
also, no land=no right to vote
[JANE SAYS: I'm beginning to think they had the right idea.]
Posted by: mRed | February 19, 2007 at 11:17 AM
I haven't made up my mind yet on the 2008 presidential race. My first choice is Al Gore but he might not run.
[JANE SAYS: Oh, I'm SOoooo hoping he does. The POLITICAL PORN would be such that most junkies would be at home glued to the TV watching Hillary and Algore go at it with SIXTEEN years of dirty laundry between them...and the drain on Hillary's war chest...it would be pure ecstasy. But alas, I fear it is not to be. Algore is just too big of an overstuffed blowhard to get a second go around. Hillary will see to that. She already has.]
Posted by: Gary | February 19, 2007 at 05:31 PM
an excellent list of questions.
[JANE SAYS: They were not very well thought out, but perhaps a start...]
Posted by: Cathy | February 19, 2007 at 07:23 PM