An American Apprenticeship
I am a licensed teacher in the State of Ohio. To get my license, I had to have a Bachelors Degree, specialized “teacher” training, a six month “apprenticeship” (student teaching) and continuing education. To progress in teaching I earned a Masters Degree. To stay in education, I am required to pass ongoing criminal background checks. There’s even more training required for younger teachers now. All this is required to teach in a public school. To be a physician, a Bachelors Degree, four years of medical school, two-years “apprenticeship” as an intern, then even more training depending on the specialty.
To be the President of the United States, you must be a “natural born” United States citizen (citizenship since birth), thirty-five years old, and a ten year resident of the United States. That is all. There is no other requirement, other than to win election.
For certain the President is a “generalist”, not a specialist. A President must deal with subjects as diverse as nuclear science, the economics of employment, military strategy, and the oratory necessary to explain whatever is going on in the country. As broad as the subjects range for the Presidency, shouldn’t there be some basic requirements of knowledge? There isn’t time for much “on the job” training, the President needs to know what’s going on from the beginning.
So what should the preparation be for the President of the United States? First, the President should have knowledge of how the government works beyond a high school civics course level. An in depth understanding of the Constitution is essential, with a comprehension of the tension and balances of the three branches. A familiarity with history and the legislative process would certainly be a must. Historically, twenty-six Presidents have been lawyers, and many have served their “apprenticeship” in the legislature, with thirteen Senators, and another seven Congressmen.
Second, the President must have experience in “running things,” the essence of executive authority. While running a business certainly would count, running complex government organizations (Governor of a state for example) would be more specific to the task. Nineteen Presidents were previously Vice President or members of the cabinet, and fourteen were Governors of their state. Four Presidents had as their main experience being a commanding General: Washington, Taylor, Grant, and Eisenhower.
Third, the modern President must be able to communicate ideas to the American people. This is strength of Presidents Trump and was for Obama, as well as Clinton, the Roosevelts, Kennedy, Lincoln and Reagan. As part of this communication, the President must be able to relate to the American people, and show an understanding of their concerns.
Fourth, the modern President must be willing to have their lives scrutinized for every action (and allow it). As our current executive crisis demonstrates, whatever failures or successes the President may have, the world is going to know about them. The days when JFK could have affairs in the White House, or Harding have a paramour back home in Marion, are long over. For a President to be able to focus on what’s in front, they have to be able to put their past behind.
As Democrats make choices for 2020 they need to keep these criteria in mind. A candidate that has the qualifications of “fame and fortune” without the underlying experience, will leave the country in the same disruption of the current regime.
The American political pendulum swings from one extreme to another. This is seen historically as the older and more experienced Eisenhower was followed by the youthful Kennedy, and more recently, Barack Obama was followed by Donald Trump. The next pendulum swing may well be not so much one of politics, but of experience. Regardless of the political agenda of the candidate, it may be a more significant qualification for the candidate to be a known “steady-hand.” It is important for both parties to recognize this reality, and choose accordingly.
I agree with the sentiment Dahlman, but struggle on whether this should be a rule written into law or whether we should simply collectively agree as a culture that this should be a standard we hold our “applicants” to the presidency to. I would tend towards the latter, but have lost some faith on our ability as Americans to collectively agree on much. Why it is considered acceptable to so many Americans, for example, that a man who is obviously hiding his tax returns from us can spearhead major major tax reform is baffling to me. Thanks as always for your posts, Dahlman!
While I think some of this will be “rules” (California will require tax returns to get on ballot for Presidetial primary) I think most should just be common sense (or a return to common sense!). I hope that will be one good outcome of this presidency
Well it wouldn’t do any good to make it law because our Democrats are above the law. Also on trump not showing his taxes really? It’s not a requirement for the elected president to release their taxes and never has been. It’s a pawn to undermind president trumps victory sry just speaking the truth. Taxes are personal, and we never saw, bill clintons, Bush’s, or Obama’s taxes? I worked in the coal mines for 4 years which is a very political job in the Obama and Hilary days. People,families suffered as these two took away their life, jobs, and not replace the jobs they took away. I donated Christmas presents to some family and friends because Obama and Hilary took their jobs away. When I lost my job because of Obama if I lived in wv I would been screwed the next best thing I could find was truck driving. I tried jobs here and there to stay close to home but no one wanted to work me over 30 hrs a week and I ended up working 4 jobs because of Obama care and the mandates that anything over 39 hours is full time and the company had to pay insurance, government control is what that is. I just wanna work. You all want to know why trump got elected because of people like me, look at the election map Hilary only won 7 states. That’s not a sign of collusion with Russia. That was a sign of Americans tired of the corruption and government control none other than the Democrats who are only thinking of themselves and their political power.
All Recent Presidential Tax Returns
Josh – I’m sorry about your job situation. Coal mining was going before President Obama, but I can’t blame anybody for being angry and taking it out. On the other hand, President Trump’s promises to coal mining aren’t coming true either. Why? Because even when mines are reopening, automation is doing the job that people used to do.
Clinton won 19 1/2 states (Maine was split 1/1)
And I agree with you, that a lot of Americans were convinced that Trump represented change for them, and Clinton represented more of the same. For some, that was a good thing, for others, more of the same was the good thing.
It’s been a busy day in *my* Trump world. I saw a Twitter post from The Palmer Report that summed it up quite succinctly. Made me laugh .. … ttps://twitter.com/PalmerReport/status/955833891645947904
But the day has just been progressing w/ more and more Trump things. The last things I found were that Dana Boente has been appointed FBI General Counsel, we’re pretty sure we know which Russian got killed over the Fusion Dossier, and Gates has probably flipped. Whew! Busy day out here!
So, as I normally do, I Googled stuff – you know, at least try and get a little background. Back to Clint Watts and “the trail of dead Russians”, and even Mensch (now, Mensch may be a tad loose w/ conclusions, but she *does* have a decent handle on the players). And my Googling eventually brought me to .. you, in Trump World.
Here I find myself in a spring meadow, at day break. Dew on the grass, birds collecting snacks for their young; all is fresh and bright. And I can see a way ahead, into the hills and fields and stands of trees. There is .. what shall I call it? .. perspective .. yes, perspective here.
Thank you! .. for your posts and your insight, but also for your empathy. The previous poster, the coal miner, he deserved your respect. He believed that DJT would help him. He did what he felt was best for people in his community and situation.
I don’t know you, but your voice and pov resonate with me. Please keep on eith ehat you are doing, and I hope I’m welcome back.
Thank you again for a window into normalcy and that rare voice of reason and compassion.
And please, thank your niece for me as well. *smile*
Kat
(Former blogger who can’t afford internet so traded in the BlackBerry for a smartphone)