APRIL 23, 2019 – Yesterday, Seth Moulton announced that he too is running for president. I’d never heard of him either (he’s a second term Congressperson from Massachusetts). What gives? Do Democrats think they increase the odds of defeating Trump if they increase the number of people seeking to oppose him? What qualifies each of the 20 announced candidates? Oops. I guess what qualifies was turned on its head in 2016.
But seriously, what does qualify a person for the world’s biggest executive job? And not only in carrying out laws passed by Congress, but in shaping a legislative agenda and shepherding it through Congress, making judicial appointments that will win consent in the Senate, and developing and implementing foreign policy in a wild and wooly world beyond our boundaries.
For too many of us a presidential choice comes down to “What’s his/her stance on [taxes, free stuff, infrastructure, marijuana, the cost of health care, etc.]?” After yesterday’s CNN “Town Hall” performances by five of the Democratic contenders, commentators criticized brainiac Buttigieg for being “light on policy.” (Huh? Talk about knowledge-based intellectual firepower!) This standard method of evaluation assumes that upon inauguration the president ascends to some omnipotent throne from which his/her word works as a magic wand for good or evil.
Sure, I’m very interested in knowing where a candidate stands on issues. But I’m even more concerned about a candidate’s capacity for the job. One way to get at the answer would be to ask a few questions beyond “What free stuff are you for or against?” Examples:
- How will you attract advisors? Will they be partisan or bi-partisan? In formulating policy or direction, will you foster debate and discussion or require strict adherence to a pre-set agenda? When disagreement among advisors arises, how will you manage it?
- Describe your rapport/working relationship with the current top 20 leaders (majority and ranking) in Congress. If you are an outsider, how will you go about establishing a rapport/working relationship to ensure that your legislative agenda will be passed, your appointments requiring Senate approval, confirmed?
- Describe the size of the current federal budget and breakdown between discretionary and non-discretionary spending. Then address Modern Monetary Theory—whether you agree or disagree with it and why.
- Hypothetical: You’re exhausted from a whirlwind trip to Asia after a hard slog with Congress over your latest budget proposal. At 3:30 a.m. your chief of staff calls to inform you that a hostage event is unfolding inside a Mumbai hotel involving over several hundred guests from all over the world—including 53 Americans. The terrorists’ deadline for knocking off their first victims—an American widow and her disabled traveling companion—is only 40 minutes away. Describe the process that you would follow in shaping your response.
- Why you out of a field of 20 and a country of almost 320 million, among whom, no doubt, are at least a million who are as well-educated, well-traveled, well-connected, and, well, qualified, as you–or a good deal more so?
