I don't mean a sense of humor, which one hopes they all have. Having a mere sense of humor proved as unreliable a guide to presidential character in George W. Bush as it did in Ronald Reagan.
No, I mean the nimbleness of mind to find le mot juste and the breadth of mind to care. Which is another reason to mourn the passing of Eugene McCarthy last weekend.
The New Republic, still an outpost of above-average writing but once safe haven for progressives too, is reprinting several articles by the former Minnesota senator, including "The 15 Commandments," a list of grounds for immediately disqualifying any would-be presidential candidate. Here, for example, is one of my faves:
8. Any candidate who releases medical reports, unless the candidate is suffering from a physical or psychological disorder that might immediately or seriously affect service in the presidential office. Jimmy Carter's statement in 1976 that he was allergic to beer, cheese, and mold, and that he sometimes suffered from hemorrhoids, was a case of unnecessary, if not indecent, exposure."The 15 Commandments" is going onto the sidebar reading list. (Free registration or BugMeNot required.)
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