Describing the ideal candidate for President of the United States

Toward a superior candidate

By James A. George, YankeeJimsAmerica.com 

From How to Select and American President ©2011 All Rights Reserved

I am going to take you through the process a couple of times as a practice before we start applying the approach to candidates. This is a pro forma scenario for all Presidential candidates.

Candidate name:

The kind of candidate I am:

Met the statutory requirements: 1) Citizen born in USA, 2) Age 35 years or greater, 3) Lived in the country for past 14 years

Name:

Birth date:

Place of birth:

Residences during the past 14 years:

Intelligence Quotient (IQ): (Provided by candidates from an accredited source)

Education:

·         High School (School Name/Location)

·         College Graduate (College/University Name/Location)

o   Degree Type:

§  Major areas of study:

§  GPA:

§  Honors/Distinctions:

·         Post Graduate (University Name/Location) (for each)

o   Degree Type:

§  Major areas of study:

§  GPA:

§  Honors/Distinctions:

Professional Certifications:

·         Bar

·         CPA

·         Engineer

·         Medical Doctor

·         Other

Occupation/Vocation/Profession:

Health Status:

Healthy, sick, recovering, recovered:

Verified with doctor’s report

Voter’s assessment of candidate age: (Will the candidate be able to complete two terms? Does the candidate have sufficient knowledge and experience as evidenced by the time spent to acquire it?)

Young 35-50, Middle 51-60, Older 61 >

 

Affected Class:

Candidate description:

Verified by Census filing

Voter assessment of character and behavior

From reviewing past president’s we identified certain terms that are helpful in differentiating and describing candidates listed in alphabetical order.

Adaptive

Allegiant to the Constitution and nation

Brave in the face of adversity

Leader, follower

Listener, talker

Passionate, impassionate, easy-going

Process-oriented (how), task-oriented (what), results-oriented (outcomes)

Thundering or reassuring

Visionary, administrator, integrator, independent, loner

 

We will refine this further, though this is a thought starter.

Voters’ assessment of leadership style

Similarly, we captured some words used to describe leadership styles.

Collaborator

Creative and inventive

Delegator

Detailer

Do it yourself

Hands on

You’re fired

Donald Trump and George Steinbrenner get credit for the last one.

Education and Training (Professional Development)

Life-long learning – It is beneficial to observe how presidential candidates have stayed abreast of contemporary knowledge and skill requirements.

Knowledge

American government system

Concept of operations

Concept of the role of the president in optimizing the nation’s government performance

Constitution

Economics

Entitlements 

Foreign policy

Information and communications technology

International trade

Knowing each governmental department and primary expectations for them

Knowing how to create laws

Knowing how to work with Congress

Law

Operational architecture

Primary presidential tasks and associated outcomes

 

Skill

Administrative

Budgeting

Strategic planning

Writing

Speaking

Negotiating

Debating

Planning

Problem-solving

Decision-making

Sense-making

Predicting

Modeling

Recruiting and staffing

Organization development

Program evaluation

 

Life History (Childhood to adulthood status)

The kind of person that can relate to me; the kind of person to whom I can relate; my kind of person

The person next door

The person who lives on the best street

Successful

 

Ability to manage the economy: The job of president is to create an environment in which private enterprise can flourish as that is what increases revenues.

Optimization = Increasing GDP and higher quality service for the least cost and labor intensity

 

Presidential Platform and Agenda: Priorities, Issues, Causes, Programs, Solutions, Vision

Banking

Coal

Energy independence

Entrepreneurs

Food supply

Green renewable

Housing

Infrastructure

Job creation

Manufacturing

Nation-building

Nuclear

Peace-building

Preemptive war

Promote democracy

Transportation

War is last resort

 

Relationship with Powerful Forces: Military Industrial Complex, Wall Street, PACs and Lobbyists

 

Political Party

Relationships with party leadership

 

Values

Attitude about big business

Attitude about government regulation

Attitude about organized labor

Attitude about public service

Attitude about rural America

Attitude about small business

Attitude toward monitories

Patriotic

States’ rights versus Central government

Work ethic

 

Military Experience

Rank

Combat Veteran

Unit

Command

Wars and battles

Citations and awards

 

Public Office Experience

Vice President

Judge

Department Secretary

Governor

Senator

House Representatives

Mayor

State Legislature

Other Public Service

 

Private Sector Experience:

CEO/President

Vice President

Director

Professional Manager

Entrepreneur

Inventor

 

Memberships:

Organizations and Leadership positions

 

Voters’ assessment of candidates on religion:

Faith matters

Faith is irrelevant

Faith is private