Intelligence - Does the person exhibit an understanding of issues, national problems, and offer possible solutions - or at least present suggestions for reaching solutions? Is there evidence that the person can use his or her rational and analytical abilities in a creative way to resolve difficulties or find ways around obstacles in order to improve life for our citizens, our allies, and suffering or oppressed people?
Interpersonal Skills - Does the person demonstrate the ability to sincerely listen to other people, and to empathize with their situation or difficulties? Does he or she appear to be comfortable interacting with and dialoging with the public, with staff, and with political peers?
Global Perspective - Is the person moderately knowledgeable about foreign countries, and respectful of different cultures? Can he or she bring this understanding to bear on our immigration policies? Will he or she restore our historical connection with our traditional allies, strengthen NATO, recognize and react appropriately to the adversarial relationships we have with countries such as Russia, North Korea, and others? The candidate should also clarify his or her position on sanctions and other punitive measures for cyber security violations and other attacks. In other words, will he or she bring balance back to our global relationships?
Realism Regarding Climate Change - Does he or she accept and support the science behind climate change / global warming, and will the candidate commit adequate resources to implement the Green New Deal (or similar measures) in order to save our planet? This must be a high priority for any serious candidate.
Communication Proficiency - Can the person clearly explain policy concepts to the average American citizen? Does the person have a developed vocabulary which allows the simplification of complex ideas? As background, does the person read? Can the candidate comfortably and naturally insert humor into speeches, town hall answers, and debates? Can the person express an idea in more than one way, to reach more than one audience at a time?
Policy Clarity - Has the candidate developed clearly stated policies on a variety of issues, and is he or she able to clearly elucidate them so that we know exactly where they stand? And, in a related sense, what are his or her policy priorities? We should be looking for voting rights, racial dialog - related both to personal interactions and changing policies which disadvantage people of color, immigrants, and those whose first language is not English. The candidate must be concerned about the future of Social Security, Health Care, Medicare and Medicaid. Other policy issues should be put forth on wars, and ending wars, disaster relief (think especially Puerto Rico), border security, preservation of our national lands and parks, our treatment of Native Americans and their lands, the opioid crisis, legalization of Marijuana, the rejection of White Supremacy, and so many other issues.
Finally - Basic Likability - I did purposely place this last. This is somewhat nebulous, but I believe our candidates should be likable. I hate to pick on anybody, but as an example of the exact opposite, I could never vote for Ted Cruz. To me, he's just not a likable guy. Each of us has to determine for ourselves which of our candidates we find likable enough to vote for.
I hope you find this helpful. It's not exhaustive, but it does deal with some important qualities one should expect to find in a viable presidential candidate.
If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
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