It is an astonishing conclusion while noting the winnowing of the very large number of ordinarily intelligent people down to a few “leaders in the polls and in collection of funds from voters” that so many are jousting for a terrible job.  The President of the United States – purportedly the leader of the “free” or whole world has morphed into the target not only for his or her own constituents but for the opposition and every other country in the world.  Who would want such a job?

Obviously, there are leaders and there are other leaders.  They differ in quality and in ability as well as having the good fortune to be in the right place at the right time.  Some Presidents have done well and others, such as G.W. Bush have failed miserably despite a pack of diehard ideologues and friends who think he is God or, at least, an Emperor.  The Imperial Presidency is one that has surfaced from time to time and is vastly different from the style and record of an early President such as Andrew Jackson.  Washington eschewed the title of “Your

Majesty” in favor of “Mr. President” and that should have settled for all time the ordinary nature of the person who becomes President but represents the people and not a faction or a class or section of the country.

From the huge number of candidates who started out too early in the game the numbers have dwindled while the bean counters have added up their ability to attract money that will be spent only on getting their candidate elected.  All that money will be gone in an instant and help no one buy needed health care, shelter or food.  Popularity with the voters will depend of which state you are in and which economic and political philosophy they THINK the candidate really has.  Religion has gotten a black eye for becoming involved in elections and deservedly so.  The religious beliefs of a candidate are like almost any secret in the background that he or she would not like to become common currency.

But the weeding out of the herd of candidates is proceeding nicely – although the time spent on this election is much too long and is a deliberate slap in the face of a failed president who has no legacy that will endure.  They are fighting over his succession before his body is even in his coffin or burned in effigy somewhere.

What it comes down to is not the amount of money collected by a candidate or the ability to dodge difficult questions or to keep past mistakes hidden.  What is comes down to is the sitzfleisch of the Americans who are pasted to their televisions and reading their newspapers going over the same territory over and over again. It should come down who is best in the herd and who will fulfill all promises made to the American people and who will be believed by the rest of the world. Most important: who will take the time to vote?