“The Presidency should not be an entry-level position”

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Albert Milliron and Candy Crowley

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uploaded by YankeeJim

NowPublic’s Albert Milliron said that (headline) in a response to a story this week. I remarked that you could build on that, so I am because it struck a chord.

Qualifications for the President of the United States

Age and Citizenship requirements - US Constitution, Article II, Section 1

No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the United States.

Term limit amendment - US Constitution, Amendment XXII, Section 1 – ratified February 27, 1951

No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once.

That’s it.

Let’s discuss.

We could debate whether citizenship should be a requirement, though I will accept that for now, as there are bigger issues.

“Age 35 years:” based on what?

According to one source, a person born in 1776 could expect to live 35 years. Therefore, the framers wrote into the Constitution an unreasonable expectation as the average bloke would be dead at age 35. We would, therefore, have few live candidates, and the living would not likely last a term, much less two. (http://www.fitnessandfreebies.com/seniors/healthyaging.html)

That is not really the main point. Age is arbitrary. A presumption might be that it takes time to acquire experience to accompany intellectual aptitude to execute the powers of the Presidency.  Bill Gates founded Microsoft at age 19 years, for instance. Steve Jobs started his Apple career at age 16. Both were college drop outs. My point is, age is not an important factor. Brainpower and experience are important factors.

Given raw brainpower and an opportunity to demonstrate its application, a person can create a track record.

How should the track record of a candidate for President appear?

Surely you don’t want to fix criteria so rigidly that you exclude brilliant and qualified candidates. On the other hand, what might be some reasonable indicators?

·         Ability to manage large numbers of organizations with different missions and disciplines

·         Ability to manage scarce resources

·         Ability to operate under constraints and within the capacity for achievement

·         Self-motivated

·         Motivated to serve the public

·         Ethical

·         Professionally trained in disciplines for which there is demonstrated transferability to the job

·         Successful track record of achievement through leading people and organizations

What else?

What about the number and duration of terms?

Given the scope and scale of the nation’s challenges, problems, and needs, are the terms of sufficient duration? Should we restrict the number of times a President serves, as we do, or should the public have the opportunity to retain an outstanding performer? The answers should not be cast in stone, or we lose the ability to continuously improve the best government in the world.

Here is one list of top 10 presidents.

http://www.karemar.com/blog/top-10-united-states-presidents-all-time