How many parents have told their kids "You can grow up to be president?"
It's a common American statement, or at least it used to be. It's one that reinforces the idea anything is possible in this great nation. As school children, we heard the stories of a boy born a one-room cabin in Kentucky growing up splitting wood and reading, making his way to the state Legislature then Congress, eventually becoming the man who would lead a broken nation through its most challenging conflict. If Abraham Lincoln can come from the backwoods to take the nation's most powerful office, what's stopping other kids from dreaming the dream?
Today, I'm not sure parents would recommend the presidency to their children. In recent years, pollsters have asked the question and a lot of folks say it's simply not worth it. The stress. The antagonistic people one has to deal with. The constant questions. And that can just come from one's own party.
Arkansas certainly has its example of a kid coming from the small southwest Arkansas town of Hope, with a modest upbringing in Hot Springs, who led the state as governor and parlayed that into eight years in the White House. And maybe 12 or 16, depending on what his wife does this year. That is, assuming Bill Clinton actually will play the role of first gentleman. No telling what will happen if he's in the White House with too much time on his hands -- idle hands and all that.
But a lot of presidents came from well-off families, people with connections the average American simply doesn't have. And maybe that's OK. Do we really want an average American leading the country?
I don't mean disrespect by that. I just think the president should be the cream of the crop, so to speak. Someone with exceptional leadership skills, great intellect, extensive experience that can inform the kind of national interest decision-making necessary in the Oval Office. Most of the time, that's not the guy or woman I'm standing behind at the Wal-Mart checkout line. And I'm sure they think the same thing about the guy standing behind them, with good reason.
I'm just not sure our political processes and general attitudes these days produce the caliber of candidates we need at the helm of the nation.
The Democrats have nominated an experienced politician, but one few trust. Her ascension was more or less pre-ordained by that party's power structure. She had to await President Obama's eight years. Now it's her turn.
Republicans have selected a man who is, for most of them, an entertainer, someone who is famous and rich, even though a lot of folks wouldn't necessarily be able to say why or how. Maybe, then, we should just be grateful the country is not facing a potential President Kardashian.
Donald Trump nonetheless somehow managed to beat back 16 others, almost all of them more experienced in government and politics. In the process, we were told the "establishment" was pulling its hair out and struggling to rein in the populace. They don't want the "anybody can grow up to be president" notion to be anything more than something parents inspire their kids with. If anybody can become president, where does that leave the movers and shakers?
I can't blame Trump for trying to get elected president. He's got a "yooge" ego just like all the other men and women who want the office. But Trump didn't turn 2016 into such a crazy political year. Voters did that. Trump is just the beneficiary.
Maybe we've entered the age where branding matters more than ideas. One can argue that George W. Bush got elected primarily on the Bush "brand," and that Hillary Clinton wouldn't be anywhere near the White House again without the power of (the first?) President Clinton's name.
"The Donald" has been most successful in marketing the Trump name. It's a name as well promoted in recent years as Pepsi and Coke. This year, people didn't seem to want to spend their time becoming familiar with a Jindal or Graham, a Fiorina or a Christie. All of those folks were Trumped by a man who said things people wanted to hear, things they or their friends have said as they sat around drinking coffee at the feed store.
I'm not saying Trump should necessarily become president. But he's as American as the next person who might have one day dreamed of becoming a president. People can argue he's not qualified all day long, but the Founders of this country said a president need fill only three criteria: at least 35 years old; a resident "within the United States" for 14 years; and a natural-born citizen.
So yeah, he's qualified. He can be president. Come November, we'll find out if enough Americans are sold on the idea that he's one of them. And if they can't grow up to be president, they may be thinking, why not Trump?
Commentary on 06/13/2016