Ideal Qualifications For President

[Pogo]

5 of the last 7 President's are/were left-handed.

This is true. If not for anomalies of Watergate fatigue (1976) and SCOTUS conflicts of interest (2000) we would have had an unbroken line of southpaws for the last 39 years.

And six more candidates who lost their elections in that time were also lefthanded (Ford, HW, Perot, Gore, Kerry and McCain), not counting Bob Dole who's naturally righthanded but switched to left due to his war wound. We haven't had a Presidential election without at least one southpaw on a major party ticket since 1972. In three elections ('92, '96 (counting Dole) and '08) ALL of the major candidates were lefthanded. What are the chances?

It's the vast left hand conspiracy. Gerald Ford changed things forever.

 

[Pogo]

1. Governor of a large state.

2. Significant business experience.

Any others?

Why business experience? The goals of government and those of business are polar opposites.

 

[jwoodie]

Interesting suggestion. Rather than being governor or a businessman, I would propose the following:

1. Experience in management of a business or governmental unit.
2. Foreign affairs or military experience.
3. An educational/professional career in anything outside of law.
4. Experience with an NGO or non-profit.

and most importantly,

5. A Wood Badge trained leader with a meaningful ticket!

I'll go for those. Now what do we do about the ridiculous way we allow the Vice President to be selected?

How about not electing vice presidents at all? We have a process in place (the Twenty-Fifth Amendment, Section 2) to fill a vacancy in the vice presidency; why not use it from the git-go? The president nominates and the nominee must have support of a majority in each house of Congress. VP becomes just the first presidential appointment of the administration. It also gets rid of that "balancing the ticket" garbage. More emphasis on ability to serve as president, less on election considerations. Also gives the House more of a role.

That is a great idea! Selection of the Vice President has been a fly in the ointment of the Constitution since Day One, and the current procedure is not much better. What happens now if the President-elect dies before being sworn in, and how would that work under your proposal?