Selecting a President

Okay, so we had some fun over McCain calling Pakistan a neighbor of Iraq. Now, apparently, Obama has gone ahead and called ”Israel a friend of Israel.” Obviously, a gaffe. But media furor would have you believing that Obama has called for nuclear strikes against the Jewish homeland or something.

In fact, I simply don’t get why the media is so obsessed with candidates making small mistakes. In this high pressure environment where media follows their every step and campaign meanders on for months, any candidate is liable to commit a few mistakes. Is that a good enough reason to decide who should be the American president?

In fact, here’s the thing: a president’s expertise in a particular field, from economic policy for foreign affairs, is subjected to intense scrutiny, Apparently, Obama is stronger in economic matters while McCain’s expertise lies in foreign affairs. In my opinion, it is an idiotic way of evaluating a candidate. With the world becoming increasingly complex and with specialization the name of the game, it is just plain nonsensical  to expect a presidential candidate to understand all complex policy matters. In fact, the president’s role in the policy making process is extremely limited; it is the vast government machinery which does that job.

What should be looked at instead are broad positions–even at the cost of being simplistic–which candidates take: free trade or protectionist or long term foreign policy goals. There are simply too many unknowns in the actual policy making process to justify detailed policy reports which are likely to be discarded as soon as the elections are over.  Second, look at the advisers: it is they who will guide the president through complex policies.You can pretty much make out which way the president will swing by giving a close look to the company he keeps.

So stop obsessing over mistakes–instead, look at what they are actually going to do