The 2020 Election: Who Isn't Running for President??!!!

"You're just absolutely right. And I'm absolutely wrong. It must be nice to always believe you know better; to always think you're the smartest person in the room."

--from the 1987 film "Broadcast News"

Twenty one and counting.  

That's how many folks have declared that they are running to be elected, or re-elected, to the office of the President of the United States, come November 2020. If this group were a hand in a game of blackjack they'd win the whole pot.  If they organized a baseball game, you'd have enough players to field two full teams with three folks still in reserve on the bench. Don't get too married to that number "21". In the coming days there's a very good chance that at least two more candidates will also throw their hats into the ring, a ring now so crowded with head coverings that you could open a millinery shop. (That's a store that sells hats, and yes, I had to look it up.) 

So let's say 23 and counting. 

I'm not quite sure what to conclude about such a burgeoning group of Presidential wannabees, each one of whom actually believes, is absolutely sure, that he or she has the right stuff, the brains, the wisdom and the chops to sit in the Oval Office and govern the affairs of 328 million people. Each actually wants to be in a job that has been described by one President, Lyndon Johnson, as akin to, "a jackass caught in a hailstorm. You've just got to stand there and take it."

They are certainly the most diverse lot of candidates to ever to run. One is the nation's first openly gay candidate who also has the most unpronounceable name ever: Peter Buttigieg.  Go ahead. Take a stab at it. Butt-ee-geeg? Butt-i-geg? Butt-i-jeeg? Nope. Try Boot-a judge or Buddah-judge. I say let's just call him Pete. There's three Massachusetts politicians running: Senator Elizabeth Warren, Representative Seth Moulton and former Governor Bill Weld. Did anyone tell them about Mike Dukakis and John Kerry? Six women and four folks of color are in the field. One candidate, self-help guru Marianne Williamson, is known for promoting a new age philosophy based upon the book  "A Course on Miracles".  Okayyyyy.... The one running for re-election uses the word "great" more frequently than Tony the Tiger on steroids. All but two are serving or have served in a higher office.

The thing that most amazes me about anyone who would presume to be the President of the United States is that they really believe that they can do it. I'd add that most are also convinced, though they'd never actually say it out loud, that they are the smartest man or woman in the room. Just listen to them at their rallies and in their stump speeches. They almost always speak without any equivocation or humility. "This is what absolutely must be done and this is why it absolutely will work and I am absolutely the only one to do it as President."  There may be rare exceptions to this mind set but for the most part one does need a very big ego, a very large view of one's self, to take on what is one of the hardest and most complicated of job's in all the world. 

As a citizen I do want someone with confidence and the character and conviction to be the President.  What I don't want--and what I suspect most of my fellow Americans do not seek as well--is a President who presumes themselves to be somehow infallible.  A President so partisan that they do not have the wisdom and humility to work with the opposition, to come up with the best solution for the largest group of Americans. I don't want a President who spends most of their time in front of fawning fans, they who bow like acolytes before the second coming. Just watch any campaign rally these days of either political party. I find it all kind of spooky, even creepy. Candidates bask in the adulation of their rabid fans. Supporters fall all over themselves worshipping at the altar of "WE ARE COMPLETELY RIGHT AND THEY ARE TOTALLY WRONG!!!!!"  

Me? I'd just like to see a leader who takes the work seriously but not themselves so much.  A leader who is self aware enough to recognize both their talents and their shortcomings.  A humble leader who is in awe, maybe even a bit scared of, the huge responsibility they seek to attain. I'm reminded of what then Vice President Harry Truman said in 1945, when he heard that President Franklin Roosevelt had died. Facing the reality he was about to become the leader of the United States, Truman said, "“I felt like the moon, the stars, and all the planets had fallen on me.” 

Twenty three candidates and counting. Five hundred and sixty days or so until November 3, 2020, election day. So please: don't run for President. I promise I won't. I think we've got enough folks to choose from.