ELECTING THE BEST QUALIFIED PERSON AS PRESIDENT

Christopher Ebbe, Ph.D.   8-16

ABSTRACT:  Appropriate job criteria for the job of President of the United States are described, as well as methods of determining who to vote for that would help to elect the best qualified candidate.

KEY WORDS:  politics, President, voting

Even though the U. S. President has limited power to unilaterally change things in the country, he or she is the symbolic leader of the country and has considerable influence over the future of citizens.  Since the job of President is complicated and requires making good decisions about complex matters, as well as kissing babies and reassuring the citizens, it would seem valuable to consider just what skills and traits a President would have to have in order to do the best possible job as President.  Unfortunately, there is almost no public discussion of this, even in election years.  Voting decisions are made in a number of ways by citizens, including:

• voting for the party’s candidate rather than for an individual candidate, even when the party’s candidate may not actually represent the beliefs of the party (e.g., Donald Trump, 2016)
• voting for the candidate that someone else is going to vote for (a parent, a friend, someone one respects), without trying to consider who is best qualified
• voting for the candidate who agrees with one on a single issue that is important to one, such as abortion, unions, the environment, or war
• voting for the candidate who seems most aggressive (and therefore supposedly best for defending the country or waging war)
• voting for the candidate who is best looking
• voting for the candidate who comes from one’s own part of the country
• voting for the candidate with the greatest name recognition, even though that recognition may not be entirely positive
• flipping a coin
• voting for the candidate who promises the most (even though these promises by presidential candidates are almost never fulfilled, since the President does not have the power to actually  make these thing happen but must have agreement from Congress and/or the courts)
• voting for the candidate who seems most like oneself
• voting for the person whose name appears at the top of the ballot
• voting for the candidate whose campaign has done the most negative advertising (or, alternatively, voting for the candidate whose campaign has done the least amount of negative advertising)
• voting for the candidate that one “likes” best
• voting for the candidate with whom one would most like to share a meal or a beer
• considering a range of issues that are important to the country and matching up those issues with the candidates’ positions
• carefully evaluating the personal traits and abilities of candidates to do the job of President well

Only the last two of these aim to elect the best qualified candidate, so it is little wonder that Presidents who are elected vary a great deal in fitness for office!  For some voters, the use of intuition, based on various social cues, may help them rule out some unqualified candidates, but careful attention to actual job functions and associated skills would identify the most qualified candidate even better.

JOB TASKS

The President engages in the following activities (if he/she is to be maximally effective):

• after carefully considering various alternatives, chooses what seems to be the best solution to a problem or the best policy to follow (with regard to problems and issues that are usually quite complex and require research, lengthy reading, and gathering opinions from “experts” and advisors)
• proposes the above solutions/policies to the public and to Congress, with supportive reasons and data
• considers all citizens and their needs, not just those he/she likes or identifies with, and seeks solutions that are in an overall sense best for the country
• organizes support for his/her positions among legislators and the public
• compromises on solutions/policies when doing so is demanded by the exigency of the situation and the impact on the public
• acts as commander-in-chief of the country’s armed forces; inspires the troops; makes military decisions with the advice of generals; seeks Congressional approval or support for what he/she views as needed military actions
• determines foreign policy according to his/her goals for the country and for the world, consistent with the general values of the country
• interacts with leaders of foreign nations and groups in order to build relationships and obtain cooperation
• informs citizens about problems, solutions, and policies
• inspires citizens to be “good citizens” and participate in community and government
• lives by values that inspire citizens (setting an ethical example and modeling adaptive ways of relating to other citizens)
• engages in symbolic actions that garner support from citizens and engender a feeling of togetherness on the part of all citizens (christening submarines, kissing babies, opening shopping centers, hosting Easter egg rolls, inspecting sites of disasters, etc.)

The most qualified President is the one who can do the greatest number of these things well, with legislative, military, and foreign policy functions weighted more heavily.

QUALIFICATIONS

Here are comments and explication regarding each Presidential job task.

• after carefully considering various alternatives, chooses what seems to be the best solution to a problem or the best policy to follow (with regard to problems and issues that are usually quite complex and require research, lengthy reading, and gathering opinions from “experts” and advisors)

Relevant Skills and Abilities:

The President must decide between various possible solutions to serious and complicated problems (how to engender growth in the economy, what foreign alliances to seek, how to guarantee religious liberty, how to balance economic growth with saving the environment, etc.), so the President should have the ability to understand the underlying issues as well as the details of both the problem and the possible solutions, plus having the ability to predict the outcomes of the various possible solutions.  This requires high intelligence, but brainpower alone is not sufficient.  The President must have practical intelligence, have a keen understanding of people, and have good judgment in general (choosing well among options, based on good information).  The President has many advisers who may provide some of this information and suggest various options, but in the end the President must choose wisely. 

Voters could judge these abilities from the candidate’s verbal statements or the candidate’s written statements, but our electoral system encourages simplistic statements for or against issues and actions, and candidates hardly ever send out written statements that go any deeper than this, even if they write them.  (This philosophy is based on the belief that it’s more effective to get the voter to identify with you than to agree with you, so issuing detailed statements about what one would do as President would have more likelihood of losing voters who might disagree with some part of the statements than would just keeping it simple (which doesn’t tell the voters what one will actually do when in office)).

In considering various solutions to problems, the President should bear in mind the welfare of all citizens, whether or not they voted for him or her, and should take seriously their various concepts of how they would like country to be.  The President must care for (all) citizens and truly want what is best for them.  This caring for citizens’ welfare must be stronger than his or her desire to be re-elected, if the President is to have maximum positive impact on the country.

• proposes the above solutions/policies to the public and to Congress, with supportive reasons and data

Relevant Skills and Abilities:

Good communications skills–both speaking and writing–are important, as well as the ability to express one’s vision for bettering the country and to tie this vision clearly to current proposals.  For long-term effectiveness, honesty is particularly important here—to tell the whole truth (pros and cons) about the impact of changes proposed and not just “sell” an idea.

• considers all citizens and their needs, not just those he/she likes or identifies with, and seeks solutions that are in an overall sense best for the country

Relevant Skills and Abilities:

If a President is to make the best possible judgments, he or she must care enough about the issues and the citizens to expend the energy needed to gather the necessary information and make those judgments with care.  So many people run for office for the primary purpose of gaining personal power and social status that it takes careful scrutiny and social acumen to identify those who want to have an important office in order to do good for the country and can therefore use all of their energies in carrying out the various tasks of the office (rather than doing things that are solely for their own benefit).  Wanting to gain office in order to do what one believes is right morally is not the same thing as wanting to do what is best for the country, either, and doing what is best for the country is also sometimes different from what one would personally want! 

A President must be able to see all sides of the arguments in order to judge them fairly and without prejudice, and she must be respectful and thoughtful about all opinions.

In some unusual circumstances a President, in doing what is best for the country, will weaken her own party’s chances in the next elections.  Presidents must walk a tightrope to both honor the democratic process, which looks for consensus and needed compromise, and do what she knows will be best for the whole country.

If a President is the President for all of the people and not just for her party’s supporters, then it would be consistent with that position to appoint and hire people in government for their ability to do the job and contribute rather than giving jobs and positions to campaign supporters.

• organizes support for his/her positions among legislators and the public

Relevant Skills and Abilities:

The President does this by making convincing and honest arguments, not by arm-twisting, vote-buying, or vote-trading.  These latter methods always demonstrate to some citizens that one cannot be trusted to act in their best interest, which in the long run will harm one’s effectiveness more than being honest.

• compromises on solutions/policies when doing so is demanded by the exigency of the situation and the impact on the public

Relevant Skills and Abilities:

As more and more people have become identified with positions on specific issues (e.g., abortion, global warming) and as more and more people have found others who agree with them on the internet, more and more people believe that their own position is the only “right” or reasonable position and see no reason why the system should not adopt it.  Thus, the art of political compromise has gone into disrepute, and candidates promise to “fight for” various things for you, rather than to do what is best for the country.  With the Constitution’s division of powers and system of checks and balances, the President cannot simply make things happen and cannot just tell legislators how to vote, so trying to find the best possible compromise is the only way to get very much done.  To identify effective Presidents, voters can look for willingness in candidates to find solutions, usually requiring compromises, as opposed to rigid promises to “fight” and never surrender.

This puts voters in a philosophically uncomfortable position, since we want them to be “involved” and to care about the issues, but we know that many of them will not get their own way on any given issue.  In order for this to work, voters must choose candidates who are similar in general to their positions and have similar values and beliefs but know at the same time that the final outcomes will probably be compromises (the alternative being total lack of action).  Citizens must  believe that the net effect of these various compromises will be in their best interest.

This question of who is benefited by specific governmental policies relates also to the tendency in the U.S. to always strive to benefit oneself even if others are hurt in the process.  This is consistent with the attitudes of our immigrant ancestors, who came here to better themselves and had to be quite assertive to do so.  People still will (usually) help others in an emergency, but most of the time they seek their own benefit and expect others to do the same, thus putting various groups of citizens in constant conflict with some other group.  Shifting the attitudes of all citizens toward taking into account the impact of policy decisions on all citizens would lead to more good feeling among citizens and toward the government.

• acts as commander-in-chief of the country’s armed forces; inspires the troops; makes military decisions with the advice of generals; seeks Congressional approval or support for what he/she views as needed military actions

Relevant Skills and Abilities:

This function involves the same data-gathering, analytic, judgment, and communication skills that any policy decision requires.  The President must preserve some distance between herself and the nation’s military, in order not to imply to the public that the military should support her personally.  Presidents who like power should make every effort not to engage the country in military actions just so they can feel powerful.

• determines foreign policy according to his/her goals for the country and for the world, consistent with the general values of the country

Relevant Skills and Abilities:

In this function the President must carefully consider long-term consequences of current policies.  There is first a fundamental decision to be made between seeking cooperative relationships and trying to get our way through dominating.  The U.S. has the power currently to force some things on other countries, but in the long run the dislike and hatred engendered by force may result in large costs to the U.S.  Taking resources cheaply from another country and supporting an autocratic leader of another country ostensibly for the sake of current stability are both examples of policies that may have huge costs later on in terms of revolutions and expropriations.

Secondly, there is a decision to be made about balancing the interests of this country with those of other countries.  It is important that all agreements to cooperate be fair to both parties and it will lead to greater cooperation in the future if the U.S. does not try to “get the best deal possible” if such a deal will benefit the leaders and the rich of the other country but also be to the disadvantage of ordinary citizens.  (Countries are currently having to face up to the anger of ordinary citizens about job losses due to globalization, even though globalization increases the overall wealth of all countries, because negotiators looked only at the immediate and overall wealth results and not at the steep costs to some of their citizens.)  The long-term interests of the U.S. will be maximized if in our foreign policy and actions we ensure that the whole citizenry of other countries will gain a positive impression of the U.S.

• interacts with leaders of foreign nations and groups in order to build relationships and obtain cooperation

Relevant Skills and Abilities:

The skills needed for positive and productive relationships with foreign leaders are in general the same as those needed for any good relationships–honesty, responsibility, forthrightness, empathy, concern for others, and communication skills.  Efforts to bully, dominate, or take advantage of those leaders and their countries will harm long-term outcomes for the U.S.

• informs citizens about problems, solutions, and policies

Relevant Skills and Abilities:

The President can enhance the governance process by clearly communicating to the citizens current issues, proposals, and legislation, which allows the citizens to feel that they are a part of the process and are being consulted about their wishes.  To do this, a President must have good communication skills and must understand the needs of the citizens.  President Reagan was very good at making these communications, because his manner was soothing and inspired confidence.  President Obama has not done much of this, even though his ability to communicate is very good.

• inspires citizens to be “good citizens” and participate in community and government

Relevant Skills and abilities:

It is interesting that few Presidents focus on inspiring citizens, perhaps because they are already inevitably receiving thousands of disparate communications from citizens about what those citizens want, and to inspire even more communications would make the job near impossible!

• lives by values that inspire citizens (setting an ethical example and modeling adaptive ways of relating to other citizens)

Relevant Skills and Abilities:

Since persons who are motivated to go through the arduous process of becoming President are often motivated by desires for power and fame, they are not usually the kind of person to inspire others through their own goodness and appropriateness (even though they may make some “lip service” efforts toward this).  A person who was a good President and a great person could do this well.

A person who is committed to honesty and to finding the truth will make a better President than one who is not (who is willing to “bend the truth” or tell white lies in order to gain personal advantage or get people to go along with him or her).  The alternative is electing someone who is willing to lie to us, and we wouldn’t admit that we wanted that, even though many citizens prefer comfortable lies to the truth!  Telling the truth requires telling the truth even when it is embarrassing to one and when it makes citizens mad, which are good tests of how committed one is to being truthful!  Once again, we must pay attention to what candidates say and how they say it in order to see how much a candidate cares about the truth.  Telling the truth is especially important during campaigns, for preserving the public’s hopefulness and trust, rather than exaggerating and bending the truth to make oneself look better or one’s opponent to look worse.

A person who is strongly committed to being responsible will make a better President than one who is not (who is willing to let things slide or who is happy to shift responsibility to others for things that he or she has done).  Being responsible requires that one “take care of business” no matter how demanding it is to do so.  A major aspect of responsibility for Presidents is not to spend more than the government can afford without borrowing, no matter who might benefit from the government thus going into debt.

A person who is strongly committed to fairness will make a better President than one who wants to first do the most he can for certain people (family, party, race, etc.), since fairness ensures that all citizens benefit, while “taking care of” certain people ensures that some will benefit more than others.

A person who is trustworthy will make a better President than one who is not, if trustworthy is understood to mean “predictably and reliably doing the right thing.”  (Trusting someone to do what is in your best interest or to do what you agree with are different and are matters more of expectation than trust.)

A responsible campaign would publish position papers on all important issues and problems, even though it could get more votes by remaining vague and not making commitments.

A person with integrity will make a better President than one who does not have integrity (who is inconsistent within himself and inconsistent in his presentation of self to others).  The great temptation for politicians is to be what each person they interact with wants them to be, in order to avoid unpleasantness or keep that person loyal, but being a chameleon is inevitably looked down on by citizens.

A campaign with integrity would make clear to donors that they will receive no greater attention than would citizens who have not donated.

• engages in symbolic actions that garner support from citizens and engender a feeling of togetherness on the part of all citizens (christening submarines, kissing babies, opening shopping centers, hosting Easter egg rolls, inspecting sites of disasters, etc.
  
  Relevant Skills and Abilities:
  The President serves as an emotional and values leader for the country in the eyes of many, despite the fact that voters who need no emotional or values leader would probably be better at electing the most qualified President.  Since many voters do want to line up their emotions and values with those of a leader, it is important that the President live and act in ways that are consistent with the overall values of the country and that are above reproach.

USING THIS INFORMATION

You can use this conception of how to select the most qualified President, if you choose to, as a fundamental change in how you vote or a way to organize or augment your process.  First of all, you might consider whether you actually want to elect the most qualified candidate, rather than on some other basis.  If you would prefer to vote for someone on some other basis, clarify in your mind what that basis is (the candidate’s stand on an issue that is particularly important to you, someone from your home state, etc.). 

In general, it is best to ignore the information and actions that candidates use to try to get your vote, because they are unfortunately almost all manipulative and scripted to influence you rather than to let you know who the candidates really are.  You must pay attention instead to how they act and how they say things for clues to how they would behave as President.  For the long term, you could help our process by requesting detailed statements from candidates in every election about policies and proposed actions on a full list of currently relevant issues.  Tell your friends about the concept of electing the person who can best do the job according to criteria that most people can agree on (and show them the form below).  Tell your party officials that you want to see these criteria illustrated by a candidate’s actions and statements.  Candidates saying simply “trust me” is simply too dangerous for electing a President.  The following pages have a “Scorecard” for rating and comparing candidates, using the skills, abilities, strengths, and qualifications elaborated above.

A SCORECARD FOR ELECTING A PRESIDENT

   candidates
  A       B      C

___   ___  ___  has ability to study and understand complex issues and
systems

 ___  ___  ___  willing to learn from others and use others’ knowledge to
solve problems

 ___  ___  ___  has ability to predict outcomes of various courses of
action

 ___  ___  ___  uses advisers who are competent and not just those who
agree with him/her

 ___  ___  ___  can compromise on solutions/policies when doing so is
demanded by the exigency of the situation and the impact
on the public

 ___  ___  ___  carefully considers long-term consequences of all
actions, not just short-term benefits

 ___  ___  ___  can see both (all) sides of every issue and addresses
them  in announcing his/her decisions

 ___  ___  ___  accepts that there is value in the considered view of
every citizen

 ___  ___  ___  is respectful of all, even when disagreeing

 ___  ___  ___  has a keen understanding of people and their needs and
feelings

 ___  ___  ___  has good judgment

 ___  ___  ___  has strong concern about the welfare of all citizens

 ___  ___  ___  places welfare of nation and citizens above desire for
re-election

 ___  ___  ___  seeks office to serve and not primarily for fame or power

 ___  ___  ___  has strong speaking and writing skills

 ___  ___  ___  communicates effectively a vision for a better country
and a better life

 ___  ___  ___  is honest and candid; tells the truth rather than hiding
behind words, especially when the truth is personally
embarrassing or will make some citizens mad

 ___  ___  ___  is responsible; takes care of business, no matter how
difficult; does not blame or hide behind others to cover
his mistakes

 ___  ___ ___  is trustworthy (can be trusted to reliably do the right
thing)

 ___  ___  ___  is forthright enough to respond honestly to voters and
co-workers, rather than hiding intentions and views

 ___  ___  ___  has integrity (is consistent, takes responsibility, and acts
consistently with her values)

 ___  ___  ___  is committed to fair treatment of all and to not favoring
those who are close or who support him;  does not favor
campaign contributors

___  ___  ___  respects and adheres to the Constitution’s separation of
powers between legislative, executive, and judicial
branches of government, rather than belittling
                        or trying to bypass the legislature or courts

 ___  ___  ___  seeks cooperation among nations rather than
threatening and bullying them

 ___  ___  ___  has a vision of the sort of world order that will benefit
other nations as well as  the U.S.

 ___  ___  ___  makes effort to inform citizens of intentions, particularly
during decision-making processes

 ___  ___  ___  has a fundamentally moral concept of appropriate
government action and foreign policy

 ___  ___  ___  sets an appropriate and moral example for citizens

 ___  ___  ___  can interact comfortably and effectively with those who
are different from him/her

 ___  ___  ___  can speak inspiringly to citizens, calling them to be the
best they can be

 ___  ___  ___  can withstand  urges to spend and borrow excessively
when to do so would create worse future problems for
the country (even when people are in need)

 ___  ___  ___  can cheerfully serve as a symbol of the country and of the
government in formal and informal actions that give a
good impression of the country and the citizens

 

 essays\presidentialchoice  Christopher Ebbe, Ph.D.  9-2016