What makes a good president?
Leadership. Confidence. Eloquent
communication. Organizational skill. Clear Vision. Ability to
compromise. Commitment to Integrity. Political experience...
Hold the
phone there...
As
counter-intuitive as it may sound, experience may actually be a
liability to a presidential candidate. A recent New York Times article exposes how this is exemplified in Rick Santorum's campaign
for the Republican nomination. Michael Shear reports that while
Santorum has attempted to run on the basis of his 16-year
Congressional career, his congressional track-record is now being
used to portray him as an inconsistent “a creature of insider
politics” who does not really uphold conservative values.
Shear
neatly points out that this sort of mudslinging is very common when
congresspersons run for office. While it would seem logical that
legislators would want to run on their congressional record, proving
their experience and know-how, it also opens them up to an intense
amount of criticism. As Shear notes:
For every vote that
becomes an effective campaign talking point, there is another that
threatens to lead a candidate into explanations requiring awkward,
process-laden Senate-speak. And those votes often cast a spotlight
on the messy compromises and partisan accommodations that are a
regular but despised part of the legislative process in Washington.
One
sees, then, that there is a catch-22 to running for presidential
office. One needs experience, of course, to run for such an
essential position. However, the more experience one has in the
spotlight of our nation's Congress, the more likely one is to have
exposed oneself to liability. That liability could be a compromise
on health care, supporting an issue which earned political enemies,
or voting for a bill that contained a substance-less earmark
(remember that Bridge to Nowhere?), but, regardless, it could cost
just enough votes to lose the election.
