“The office of the President of the United States of America is by all accounts the most difficult and demanding in the world. By it’s very essence it therefore requires an extraordinary person with extraordinary skills to be able to do it. Under the circumstances, the notion that you would want anyone ordinary in there, doing an extraordinary job, clearly makes little sense at all.

The hockey Moms of Anytown might be competent at running the house and balancing the family cheque book at home, but that is a far cry from managing the entire U.S. economy and it’s trillion dollar budget deficit in a new global marketplace.  Just imagine where the country would end up if average Joe six-pack, dressed in his football shirt, complete with beer and nachos in hand, is put in charge.

If I am not mistaken, it seems like we have just spent the last eight years doing exactly that. It is easy to see the allure of the politics of populism for the Sarah Palins of this world.  After all, we, the voter, always like to feel that we can identify with our leaders in power. And we should be able to too.

Empathy however, and the ability to feel the voter’s pain, is not a substitute for having the skills and ideas and talent required to solve the problems causing that pain in the first place. That is something we would all be well advised to bear in mind. If we don’t, then come 2012, we may well end up going through another eight years of what we have just been through.”

Read the whole story in Russia Today (translated into English)