I guess I am one of the dwindling number of Americans who wants my leaders to be more extraordinary than me, more intelligent and more talented. I think the people who look for regularity in their leaders are really just looking for someone to affirm them as people--to tell them that people like you--average--can succeed. Doesn't that sound lame. Think of it this way: Let's say you got lost in the wilderness with 100 people or so. You have absolutely NO IDEA where to go. But two people emerge from the group to lead you out. They point in opposite directions, saying their way will lead you and the group out.
Let's say Leader No. 1 has never been here before. Let's say they've never even been hiking before. They've never read a survival book or even pitched a tent. But, Leader No. 1 does have five kids, like you and seems like a nice person.
Leader No. 2 might not have been in this exact spot before but he has been in some rough spots in the past. He has an impressive understanding of surival, how to hunt, how to make a compass with a leaf, etc. But, he eats argula.
Which one are you going to follow? Seriously. Which one are you going to follow?
America, please stop being such morons about this. This isn't a high school election. It's not a popularity contest.

I sympathize. I do, profoundly. I ask myself this question over and over. Some days I think that we will emerge from this nightmare. That we will as a nation graviate again to leaders like Lincoln, Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Kennedy. That America will once again become a place where the best and the brightest are rewarded with the responsibilities of high office. That we won't settle for a gun toting, small town mayor with a nice smile and big family as commander in chief. Then, I remember that in 2004 a large plurality of Americans voted Bush jr. back into office and I fear that may very well happend again. Then, I get depressed.

I completely agree with this sentiment.

I would also add that in my view, I wish there were some way to impress upon voters that there is more at stake than abortion and gay marriage. In fact, I wish all "family values" arguments were just tossed right out the window. Forget family values. They aren't government values, and elected leaders shouldn't be teaching us what they should be, or mandating them. We're not electing an imam.

Let's get back to making decisions based on what's best for the country. Who can steer us clear of conflicts, or handle unavoidable conflicts in the least messy manner... Who can create jobs and get started saving the planet... and so on.

I'm embarrassed that the debate between pro-life and pro-choice becomes so important. Or the debate over gun rights. The second amendment is probably less important than, oh, i don't know, any other amendment in the bill of rights. (And the other amendments are being trampled! The important ones! Why doesn't the average idiot care about that?) Roe v. Wade would never be touched by a legitimate, non-political court. Those issues don't freakin matter. I find it disgusting that the religious right make these issues a centerpiece in a country that mandates the separation of church and state. I don't care what your god says, mine may not agree. If I even have one.

Well, that sort of just devolved into a tangential rant. But I stand by the sentiment.

It is as if the country is deaf, dumb and blind or in a coma.

Would the people who decide to check mark the posts, stop check marking the lamest ones?

Pengoat, if you think this post is lame I would suggest that you are completely out of touch. Many of us feel exactly the same as this poster. The dumbing down of America is pathetic. Faith-based issues are destroying this country.

It was no a large plurality of the American public that voted little george back into office - he might not have lost the popular vote like he did his first election, but he did get the lowest percentage of voters in the history of the presidency for an incumbent that won his second term.

And in the electoral college votes, he got less total EC votes for his two terms than his father, Big George got in his two runs, even though Big George lost his second run.

Keep in mind that the Republican Congress was Republican on the slenderest majorities in almost every race and that in part explains 2006 - there was a sudden loss of money being passed out by the likes of Tom DeLay and Jack Abarnoff and just like that, their advantage disappeared.

The most honorable Republican of all times once said "You can fool all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time."

Or as little george so eloquently put it: "There's an old saying . . . 'Fool me once, shame on -- shame on you. [Pause.] Fool me -- you can't get fooled again.' "

I'm with you.

I completely agree with this. I don't want to look at the president and think "hey,she/he is just like me", but I want them to be better than me. Smarter, better educated, more charismactic, the whole shebang. I don't want someone to drink a beer with or someone who isn't that much different than the average Joe. I want the person who has always separated herself/himself from the rest of us. Apparrently, a lot of America disagrees, and it does feel like things have become a popularity contest where comments like Al Gore talks too much policy or John Kerry was too stiff or liked windsurfing have an effect on voters. What's next, texting our votes in?

Obama's video didn't extoll his exceptionality, but his ordinariness. And everyone I know is smarter than Joe Biden.

Great analogy. Leader 1 is Obama and Leader 2 is McCain, right?

Totally agree. When did proven intelligence (by all the measures our schools use ie academic excellence and achievement) become such a drawback? When did 'intellectual' become a dirty word? This must be one of the few nations on earth that likes its leaders to be just as dumb as we are. I want to vote for someone because I think they are much much smarter than me and I can look up to them. Obama is, and has proven it at Harvard and beyond.

And apparent failures of parenting DO matter. This is one of the highest offices in the world, VP. I don't want someone there who is apparently making a worse job of parenting than not only me, but most of my friends and acquaintances too. Teen pregnancy doesn't just 'happen' because the fairies sprinkled a little dust around, it's a failure of parenting.

Yes, I dare use the word failure about this fecund mother of 5. I'm a mother of 2 (boy 18 and girl 20). If my daughter had become pregnant at 17, I would have regarded myself as a total failure as a parent. I'd have been horrified at my own failure, and full of remorse. Not because unplanned pregnancy is 'immoral' or 'ungodly'. But because it's just so dumb. What an example to set to the rest of us.

Amen, Silas.

MiddleWay:

Amen, Silas.

Second that.

Amen to that. How is it that Americans spend so much time talking about leadership without the least understanding of what it means? I couldn't care less whether I "like" my boss or would want to pal around with him or her on weekends. I want to respect their abilties and accomplishments and be satisfied that they have the best interests of my organization at heart.