Of late all three of the remaining campaigns have talked a lot about qualifications and experience. So today I want to talk a bit about those topics.

The Presidency is a unique job, a peak job among peak jobs. Unlike a head coaching or CEO job, you can't hire someone based on their track record performing at an equivalent position. Probably the nearest comparison we have is for someone to be a US State Governor. Governors must work with a legislature and oversee a variety of state institutions that mirror the ones in the Federal Government.  They must oversee finances and raise revenues through taxation. In this campaign, we had three Governors. None of them are in the race any longer.

The uniqueness of the Presidency (and to a certain degree, other Federal elected offices) is the degree to which the the positions are involved with foreign relations and national defense. In fact, I like to think of it as the capstone skill that differentiates it from all other elected offices.

I have often thought of the contrast between the qualifications and development of a politician with those of a military officer. Officers begin their careers with a limited set of responsibilities and skills.  Over time, they increase those skills. As they increase their skills and show the desire and capacity for increased responsibility, opportunities are given for positions of greater challenge. Along the way, competition occurs and assessments are made of which officers have the most capability to best perform at the highest levels. When elected officials select the individual officers to occupy the military's highest positions, they choose the best from among the best. Along the way, these are people whose personal courage, intelligence, stamina and integrity have been challenged and shown to be formidable.

Career diplomats in our State Department and members of the CIA and FBI are subjected to a similar development process.

Unlike military professionals, politicians come from a variety of backgrounds. Some start at a local level, others at a state, some go directly to the federal level. Being elected depends on the personal ability to persuade and to satisfy the people who support your election.

Given the structure of things, then, you as a citizen need to know this. (And given the fact that fewer and fewer Americans proportionally have been involved with the military, what I'm about to discuss may not be commonly realized.) When a phone call comes at 3 a.m. to one of our elected officials, the call is being placed by one of our career professionals in the Department of Defense, State, Justice or other departments. There is often already a contingency plan in place. Options will have already been discussed beforehand and the purpose of the call will be to state the facts, present the options, make a recommendation and get a decision.

There are exceptions. 9/11 was an exception. On that day, we had a Commander in Chief who came from good family, who had been a fighter pilot and a governor of a large state, all seemingly the right qualifications. And when he was given the news that America was under attack he froze for 7 minutes.

So I guess my point is that what we would normally look for as an indicators of future performance in a crisis situation may not necessarily be the true indicators. Maybe some of the other things we should be looking for include the ability to think ahead, organize and anticipate crisis before crisis arises. We should also look not just to how someone would react, but what their likely reaction would be and is that the reaction we want taken on our behalf.

Just some thoughts. You're welcome to comment.

P.S. I had saved the above, then had one final thought. We look at Presidential candidates as the all-powerful and forget that they (and we) are part of a system of government. The President is head of one of three co-equal branches of our government. The legislative branch, in particular, has the power to confront and correct a weak or corrupt Chief Executive. Partisan politics have kept the legislative branch from fulfilling that role. If we want to resolve partisan polarized politics, then we must all become involved in the parties and/or do things that will ease the competitiveness of other political parties. Remember that when you vote you must consider not just the Presidential candidate alone, but the candidate and their party.