Opinion: Presidential Election

In Electing a President, What Really Matters?

By Jill Kuraitis, 8-06-08

Every four years, America elects a president under democratic principles.

Let me start again.  Every four years, America elects a president using a system which has its roots in democratic principles but has turned into the world’s most annoying circus of jugglers, acrobats, clowns, freak shows, trapeze acts, performing elephants, women who have no business wearing sequins but wearing them anyway, sleight-of-hand performers, tigers threatening to attack - all under the control of a Ringmaster.

This year’s campaign is no small source of annoyance, like drivers who don’t signal or your neighbor’s barking little freak designer dog. It’s a Big Top of aggravation, a spring-summer-fall long Greatest Show on Earth that justifiably leads to a lot of Americans falling off the bleachers, exhausted.

What?  The media is the Ringmaster?  Why, what a shocking, shocking statement. Why, the media wouldn’t cover the ludicrous stories if people didn’t clamor for them.

His wife stole her cookie recipes.  His wife is too outspoken.  He’s the worst flipflopper.  No, he is.  His haircut cost too much. The celebrity in his ad is stupider than the celebrity in her ad.  She wears ugly pantsuits.  He’s had plastic surgery.  Her dog is ill-behaved.  He reminds me of Paris Hilton.  He reminds me of Grandpa Munster. He wants to pass a law prohibiting airplanes from hitting skyscrapers. He travels with his peers in the Antiques Roadshow.

There’s no shortage of opinions about what really matters in a presidential election, and I have mine, although they are not all litmus tests.

The source of campaign funds and how they are donated is prime. It’s important because any shenanigans define which issues a president will serve up, and which side he’ll come down on.  Big Oil.  Tobacco.  Israel. Defense spending. Education. Telecommunication.

Age and mental status matter.  Military service and education matter. The people on whom the new president will rely – his Cabinet and advisors – matter. Leadership ability, honor, and integrity matter. 

A knowledge of different generations and their priorities matters. Full knowledge and proficiency on the internet matters.

I prefer an educated commoner to royalty, an outsider to an insider, a change agent to a preservationist.

I want my President to know what he doesn’t know, to know when he’s wrong, and to be able to say so in blunt terms without shame. I don’t need my president to be perfect.

Most flip-flopping doesn’t matter - a president should change his position on some issues over the years.  People who remain firmly entrenched in old ideas, who don’t grow and develop and learn, scare me.

Most of all, I want someone who will rock official Washington with bold ideas and a refusal to maintain the status quo just “because that’s the way we’ve always done it.” I want my president to tell Congress they’re a failure and demand a whole new approach to action items - someone who isn’t afraid to turn things on their ear in search of better answers.

Last, and this statement is shocking to some:  experience in government doesn’t matter – in fact, I prefer someone fresh, if he is an inspiring leader who is driven to make life better for Americans, who has a thirst for the truth, and who is gifted with an open mind and heart.

Let’s let the circus fold its tent so we can move on to the forum of ideas. 

The air’s better in there.

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