Next President

You know what? For our next President, no matter which party… don’t send me a businessman, don’t send me a lawyer, don’t send me an actor. Those are three people from whom (for varying reasons – respectively personal enrichment, ability to spin the hell out of things, and ability to recite pre-scripted lines) I can’t possibly be sure of hearing the truth.

Send me a teacher. That person will know how to manage near impossible tasks while making it look easy, settle internal squabbles with grace, and accomplish their objectives even when their budgets are under heavy squeeze.

Send me a nurse. That person will know how to look at the entirety of a situation and gauge its status quickly, to make hard life-and-death decisions under pressure, to lead with compassion layered over steel layered over more compassion.

Send me a small farmer. That person has what it takes to work their socks off day in, day out, making adjustments as conditions change, standing up to big business when they need to, and managing all manner of all-too-finite resources.

Please. For the love of everything holy. Send me that President.