Posted by
JTD on Friday, August 01, 2008 3:21:37 PM
There ought to be a law, or more properly, there ought to be a Constitutional Amendment. One sentence, neat and simple.
NO PERSON CURRENTLY SITTING AS A UNITED STATES SENATOR OR WHO HAS SO SERVED WITHIN THE PRECEDING FIVE YEARS SHALL BE ELIGIBLE TO HOLD THE OFFICE OF PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
Think about it. What qualities do you want to see in a presidential candidate. Unless your answer is "An unchecked ego and an infatuation with the sound of one's own voice", you are not going to find the qualities you are seeking in the Senate.
What do Senators do? They talk (blather endlessly, is more like it) and they hold hearings (at which they beleaguer mere plebes such as you and I with imperious arrogance). That's it. That's the job resume.
Pick someone, anyone, currently ensconced in the Senate. Ted "The Splash" Kennedy, Joe "Plugs" Biden, Mary "Where am I" Landreau, Babs "The BoxKite" Boxer, Chucky "Where's the camera?: Schumer or even Barrack "PSI" Obama. What are their qualifications to do ANYTHING, let alone handle the presidency?
Would you hire any of these people to work for you? Would you entrust your family, your business, your portfolio, let alone your country into the care of these people. Hell, I wouldn't let any one of these clowns feed the goldfish while I'm out of town for a couple of days.
Sadly, this includes John McCain. Look, faced with the whining duet that is "Barry and Michelle" I am firmly, albeit reluctantly, in McCain's camp. But let's all fess up now, when the primaries were still ongoing, we conservatives asked ourselves, "What are John McCain's presidential qualifications, really!!!!!!" True war hero, yes indeed. But if that were the sole criterion, Segeant York and Audie Murphy would have occupied 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue post-WWI and WWII.
What then? Commander of the largest naval squadron? Okay, a little better.....some managerial aspects there.....but c'mon, this is still the man who has so little regard for business that he could scornfully disdain Romney's gold plated business resume in the nasty "private sector" as compared to McCain's lofty "service." Obviously, McCain's squadron leadership experience did not help him comprehend that there is nothing unseemly or unacceptable about the country's largest corporation posting the country's largest quarterly profits.
What else? Well, we know he will defend the country more competently than "Mr. We Are The World!" Beyond that, what qualification does McCain have. Why the hyper-inflated senatorial ego, of course!
But let's not dwell on Johnny Mac. This is about senators, per se, and not about individuals.
Taken as a group, the United States Senate is, perhaps, the most UNQUALIFIED group of individuals in the country. Sure, there are the occassional bright lights, but they are few and far between. And for those rare individuals, the proposed amendment has the five-year preclusion. A truly deserving potential candidate can restore his presidential elgibility by leaving the Senate and proving his Bona Fides elsewhere, hopefully in the private sector. The five-year waiting period gives the former senator the chance to show that a real person lies within and has survived the pompous, posturing preening that is endemic in the so-called upper house.
Think of all the fatuous, empty suits (or skirts) whose candidacies would not have been inflicted upon us had this amendment been enacted: Hillary, Barrack, John Edwards, Chris Dodd, Joe Biden, to name but a few.
Now all we need is a name. Ah, yes, the NBSA......The No BullS*** Amendment. Let the petitiions roll!
THE MAELSTROM QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Be the change you wish to see in the world." Mohandis Ghandi, shamelessly dissing the Messiah by ripping off his gilded prose 60 year before the fact.