(Fred Weinberg) – The announcements of Ted Cruz and Rand Paul that they are running for President in 2016 is causing huge excitement amongst the Tea Party set and an equal amount of angst with the “my turn” Republicans who gave us John McCain and Mitt Romney.
I like and admire both of them as well as Marco Rubio who has not yet but probably will announce.
But I would be completely remiss in not sounding a note of caution.
What do these guys have in common with our current President?
They are all first-term Senators.
And, candidly, there’s a big difference between what a Senator gets paid to do and what the President gets paid to do.
If you need a cautionary tale as to the pitfalls of a young, first term Senator as President, look no further than Barack Obama.
I’m not talking about ideology.
I’m talking about executive competence.
Obama never even ran a community organizing office before he became the leader of the free world.
And, in the immortal words of Dr. Phil, how’s that working out for us?
Before they became Senators, Cruz, Paul and Rubio simply have no executive resume.
I, for one, would be a lot more interested in their presidential prospects if they would all go back to their respective states and run for Governor. Then, come see us after a term or two.
Governors have to deal with legislatures, bureaucracies, crime, public safety, education, welfare and all of the other things you take for granted from your government.
Senators talk. And talk. And then, they talk some more.
The Senate is not Presidential prep school. It gives its members the mistaken impression that talking solves real problems.
The GOP has a pretty deep bench of executive talent this time around. Much more so than the Democrats.
As much as we may like the ideology expressed by the three Senators, the truth is that is all it is. Hope and change. None of them has a track record to point to.
And, let’s be brutally honest about our current President.
He was an affirmative action hire. If Barack Obama were white, he wouldn’t even be a first term Senator.
His resume was so thin, that is the only way he could have been elected. That and 4,000,000 GOP voters staying home.
If we as a nation haven’t learned from the debacle of the past six years—and I’m not talking about ideology—than we better learn before we make that mistake again.
I don’t think any first-term Senator is qualified to become President.
Ideology is important.
But executive talent is much more important.
If Obama were at least competent, we would be looking at the last six years completely differently.
And, if we have not yet learned, prepare yourself for another four years of White House follies.
Mr. Weinberg is publisher of the Penny Press. Get to know more about him by visiting www.PennyPresslv.com.
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