CRITERIA/STANDARDS FOR CHOOSING A PRESIDENT

Many believe that politics is stupid because of all of the partisan bickering that goes on.  That may or may not be true, but it’s irrelevant…our President makes decisions that affect not only us, but our children, grandchildren, and many other countries around the world.

Based on the controversy of the previous and upcoming Presidential elections, I developed the following non-partisan criteria for selecting a President.  I came up with them after looking at everyone else’s and concluding that they were inadequate.  My qualifications for doing this are: I followed politics since 1960, my Masters degree from the University of Pennsylvania is in Government Administration, and working for the Federal, State and local governments for 44 years.  My 7  criteria for choosing a President are listed below and are prioritized and listed in the order of their importance (#1 is the most important and #7 the least important).

1. POSITIONS ON ISSUES:  this criterium is by far the most important reason why one should select one presidential candidate over another.

2. EXPERIENCE: there is no job exactly like the presidency but there are some jobs that provide relevant experience.  It’s not a coincidence that seventeen of our U.S. Presidents have been Governors of a State.  Being a Governor provides the best experience for the presidency, however any executive or managerial experience is relevant and useful.  High-level military experience is also good.  Legislative and legal experience is useful but not ideal.  Check out the accomplishments of the candidate.

3. EDUCATION: A masters degree in either Government or Business Administration is probably the most relevant education a President could have.  A law degree is helpful.  Business education is also helpful.

4. OPEN-MINDEDNESS:  In U.S. politics, the politician is either on the left or the right and this ideology can be constraining at times for finding the best solutions to a problem or dilemma, so willingness to “going-across-the-aisle” and being a good listener can be a great asset for a president.

5. INTEGRITY: one of the important qualities but not so common in many politicians.  This is important because the President may ask the Country to go to war or to make some other sacrifice, so we need to be able to trust him or her and not think that whatever is being done is for political purposes.

6. PUBLIC SPEAKING and CHARISMA: for his “bully pulpit” duties, a President would be well-served by being a master of the spoken word, and if he or she is charismatic as well, so much the better.

7. HEALTH (physical & mental): sufficient physical health to travel around the world and throughout the U.S., as well as adequate mental health to make good decisions.

CONCLUSION

You may agree or disagree with my 7 criteria or perhaps you simply may want to add a few more.  Whatever…but it is important to have criteria (or standards) to use, otherwise you’ might do what many people do: vote solely by political party, vote because of something irrelevant like age, gender, physical appearance, ethnicity, race, or emotions. While most elections don’t matter that  much, the 2016 Presidential election was one of the most important in U.S. history, and the 2020 Presidential election was also very important, but in a negative way because it reversed many of the great achievements of former President Trump.  Use my six criteria in checking out the 2024 Presidential candidates.

It used to be relatively easy to carefully consider my aforementioned six criteria in judging presidential candidates.  With today’s partisan media, it’s very difficult to get accurate information, but it can be done with great effort.  The fate of the U.S. depends on it.

 

UNDERSTANDING PRESIDENT TRUMP

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All of his adult life Donald Trump followed important issues and donated to both Democrats and Republicans (see Trump’s book, “The America we Deserve”).  He was not ideological or partisan.  He was a super-patriot and eventually thought he could use his business acumen to turn America around, which he believed had become very weak, militarily, economically, and culturally.  After thoroughly checking with  political experts, he decided to run for the Republican presidential nominee.  Not being a polished politician, his blunt talk won over many Americans who were tired of slick-talking, do-nothing politicians.  His goal as President really was to “Make America Great Again”!  Donald Trump is “old school”.

With Republican majorities in both the House and Senate for his first two years as president, he was able to pass significant tax cuts which led to the economy doing extremely well for all of its sectors.  Many of Trump’s accomplishments resulted from his abolishing numerous counterproductive Obama regulations that had put a “wet blanket” over the economy (former GE CEO Jack Welsh’s description).  In addition, President Trump used his  negotiating skills to deal with the huge trade imbalances the U.S. had with China, Japan, Mexico, etc.  Moreover, because of his blunt talk, unpredictability, and decisiveness, adversary countries took his threats seriously and were much more accommodating to him than to previous U.S. presidents.

Everything in this article up to this point has been positive, so why did so many people have an intense hatred of President Trump?  My belief is that it’s mostly because President Trump hits back very hard when attacked.  His opponents, the Democrat Party, the Mainstream Media, Hollywood, and Academia are not used to any Republican fighting back when attacked.  Republican leadership is infamous for being timid.  Another major reason why so many hated President Trump is due to the incessant criticism Main Stream Media spouted off every hour of every day, almost all of it phony.  Finally, although President Trump really had made America great again through his numerous accomplishments, he had a few annoying personal mannerisms that turned off many people, including me (though I still admire him for how he helped the U.S.).

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I would characterize these annoying personal mannerisms as shortcomings in emotional intelligence (see Daniel Goleman’s book, “Emotional Intelligence”).  Here’s some examples of what I mean: 1) “punching down” like calling Jeff Sessions “stupid” and Stormy Daniels “horseface”; 2) having his “child” hooked (see Thomas Harris’ book, “I’m OK, You’re OK”)  by Joe Biden during their first debate and consequently reacting emotionally instead of intelligently to other debate questions, like “Do you denounce white supremist groups…?” The best answer would have been a simple, “Yes, of course I denounce them,” instead of his confusing reply); 3) focusing his campaigning on Biden’s shortcomings, instead of what he would do if he were re-elected (including reducing annual budget deficits and total national debt); and 4) the disrespectful manner in which he criticized Joe Biden personally.  These shortcomings (as well as unprecedented massive election fraud by the Democrat Party) helped cause President Trump to lose re-election despite all of his outstanding accomplishments for America.

President Trump had turned around so many failing national endeavors and every single day made even more progress for America.  If he had been re-elected and continued at his “Trump Speed,” I believe he would have become our greatest president.  If he runs and wins in the 2024 Presidential election, I believe he will become our greatest President.