What makes a good presidential candidate?

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What makes a good candidate?

The way the American presidential system is designed, a candidate must attain or possess more qualities than needed after winning the presidency election. Which are the desired qualities and what are the consequences of this phenomenon?

Primarily, a presidential candidate must look presidential. History shows that US presidents are a homogenous group of white, Christian, highly educated white males in their middle age. If they have a Western European heritage, they are backed up by the statistics. ‘Looking presidential’ also means staying in good shape, supposedly by public jogging sessions, broadcasted on national TV. A strong family supporting the candidate is a definite pro, since that demonstrates leadership skills on the home field. Only two American presidents have been elected when bachelors.

This narrow personal profile has always represented the entire population. People’s natural conservatism have determined the fact that he who fits this description is more likely to succeed as a president. In a campaigning system controlled by financial contributors and influenced more by history than by future, a person who differs from the characteristics stand little, if any, chance of going all the way. Necessary personal qualities such as strength, boldness and decisiveness are today ascribed to the stereotype image of the American President.

Strong feministic winds are blowing across the world. But still, the world is waiting for its first American female president (and her first man!). It will probably take a couple of runner-ups before the time has come and the mentality of the people has changed enough to condone a woman as head of state. “Potential presidents are measured against an ideal that’s a combination of leading man, God, father, hero, pope, king, with maybe just a touch of the avenging Furies thrown in,,,” As the situation is at the moment, a woman is obviously less apt to fit the patriarchal characteristics.
The ability to actually run a country is of fairly little importance for the candidate during the campaign. More important is his ability to make the people conceive him as capable of being in charge. Therefore, today more effort is put into presentation skills, social skills and persuasion skills; everything with the purpose of creating a popular candidate with social abilities. The incumbent president, George W. Bush put all his eggs in this basket, and obviously succeeded. He is not so much of a public speaker, but has great people skills (he remembers and calls his employees by their first name) and make voters feel personally affected when addressing them.
Even since the blue glow of television during the 60s entered the American nuclear family, the pre-requisites for presidential candidates have changed dramatically. Media in general and television in particular is the most important tool for a candidate to convey the political propaganda. Style becomes substance . Al Gore was considered dull by scrutinizing journalists. The people thought the same and Bush won the race. The same thing happened with John F. Kennedy, who 1964 beat Richard Nixon, simply put because of a better-looking presidential face on the TV screen.
In the popular TV show “West Wing”, creator Aaron Sorkin orchestrates the presidential capacities of actor Martin Sheen, who plays the democratic president. Polls following the show confirms the strong influence TV has on the public opinion. Many people (with minor difficulties in separating the TV show from reality) said that they would vote for Sheen in an election.
In the movie the “The War Room”, the year is 1992, and we follow the campaign of challenger Bill Clinton, running against incumbent George Bush. Young Clinton has the desired qualities of a smart pretty-boy, going for the top spot. He is described by a talented entertainer, fascinating people with his shining saxophone, in opposite to the old Bush, who represents the past tense. Of course, the democratic “comeback kid” beat the old republican, and character beat experience.

A challenger will plan the strategy of his campaign differently than the incumbent president. If the president has done a mediocre period, the challenger should use this to his advantage by emphasizing differing qualities. Many times, the expectations of the public are set too high, and impossible for the president to match. Otherwise, he can always use statistics to prove how the country is going down and is in need of a new leader. Put in plain language, this means that a challenger can be more or less right in time, depending on how and what his predecessor has done.
To conclude, the presidential candidate needs broader skills, especially adapted to please the TV audience, than before. Naturally, the candidate must possess great financial resources to even be able to carry through a serious campaign, and even be on TV. The question of money has not been discussed in this paper, since it is not in the people’s interest whether the candidate is rich or not; it is only important to him and his party...