Of course it’s absurdly premature to speculate on who the candidates for president will be in 2016. There is a serious midterm election this November, still two full years ahead of the next Presidential arm wrestling contest. That will launch a couple of political careers, torpedo a couple of others, and shape the political climate in which the 2016 election will be held.
So, he was a drunk. At least he didn’t invade Mesopotamia
Nonetheless, political nerds are speculating, because that’s what we political nerds do. I have plenty of people on my facebook page advocating for Hillary Clinton and at least one person who is already up on the ABH* soapbox, loudly reminding us all of her many, many flaws.
She’s certainly not my top choice. Although I admire her intelligence and think she’s competent enough for the job, I have lots of reservations. But that’s not really the point of tonight’s blog.
The point of tonight’s blog is this: if we’re going to be discussing this topic, let’s discuss it seriously, intelligently. When Sam (the guy over on facebook) opened the thread with his anti-Hillary rant, someone suggested that Michelle Obama should run. This is just silly.
I can only think of 3 examples in American history where someone who had never held any political office whatsoever became president. Washington, Grant, and Eisenhower. Actually, come to think of it, that may disprove my point, because all of them did all right. ( I do not agree with those historians who think Grant was a terrible president. Poor people loved him, and that says something to me.)
Still, they were exceptions, and they all had had some pretty intensive on the job training at leading large organizations through times of crisis. Admittedly, even that’s not among the legal requirements.
Let’s review. To be legally eligible for the presidency, a person must be at least 35 years old and a “natural born” citizen of the United States. There’s a bit of debate about what that second part means, but it rules out Arnold Schwarzenegger and Texas Teabagger Ted Cruz, for which we can all be grateful.
That’s it. In addition to the legal requirements, though, there are some practical requirements. Like maybe the person should have held some political office at some point in their life. Otherwise, maybe we should nominate Michael Douglas, because he played a really good president in a movie once. Or Martin Sheen. Not that president from Scandal, though. He’s a dick.
*anybody but Hillary
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