Part II: Tough Questions For Presidential Candidates

On Becoming An Informed Voter: Part II Tough Questions For Presidential Candidates

Ask Any Candidate: What is the job of the President of the United States of America?

Expect a Long Rambling Answer:  It should be consistent with the job specified in Article 1 Section 2 of the US Constitution.  The Constitution specifies 3 responsibilities relevant to international affairs and 3 relevant to domestic matters.  I’ve spelled them out a bit in a short article (On Becoming an Informed Voter: Part I The President’s Job) which can be found on the ADI website.

Ask Any Candidate: What are the minimum qualifying criteria for the job?

Expect A Shorter Answer that says: The President must be a native born citizen of the USA who has attained 35 years of age, as certified by the candidate’s political party and approved by the election officials in the several states. (Don’t worry much if the part about being certified and approved is not mentioned.)

Ask Any Candidate: What knowledge, skill, and experience is required for the job?

Do Not Expect a Crisp Answer:  Requirements have never to have been specified.  However, the following items make sense and you might listen for them:

  1. Knowledge of the US Constitution—the oath of office requires the President-elect to swear or affirm to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution. The President should have a thorough understanding of the US Constitution, perhaps not rivaling that of the 9 Supreme Court Justices taken together, but the oath requires the President to be quite conversant with the Constitution (or else inadvertently lie under oath).
  1. Knowledge of international affairs—3 of the 6 responsibilities specified in the US Constitution relate to international affairs which might include actual and potential military threats, actual and potential military alliances; actual and potential economic policies including trade agreements and monetary issues. As a practical matter, no one human being can know all that would be important to know about international affairs.  Therefore, a President should know how to assemble a team of expert advisors and assure that the team provides credible and highly specific information as needed.
  1. Knowledge of military matters–since the President is Commander in Chief, the President should know military history from Sun Tzu onwards; know current command structure from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, through generals and admirals, and on to the platoon leaders (or whatever they are called); know the status of forces throughout the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and National Guard units in all 50 states. As a practical matter, no one human being can know and fluently apply all that knowledge of military matters.  Therefore, a President should know how to assemble a team of expert advisors and assure that the team provides credible and highly specific information as needed.
  1. Knowledge of leadership and management—the oath of office requires the President-elect to swear or affirm that he or she will “Execute the Office” of the President. That requires knowledge of management and leadership, knowledge of budgets and budgeting processes, knowledge of relevant statutes and court decisions.  As a practical matter, no one human being can know and fluently apply all that knowledge of management and leadership.  Therefore, a President should know how to assemble a team of expert advisors and assure that the team provides credible and highly specific information as needed.     
  1. Knowledge of economics—economics is commonly defined as the study of the allocation of scarce resources. Every management action necessarily involves allocation of scarce resources; in the case of Presidential actions both immediate term and enduring term costs and benefits are involved.  Therefore, clear and precise knowledge of both macro and micro economics is important.   As a practical matter, no one human being can know and fluently apply all that economic knowledge.  Therefore, a President should know how to assemble a team of expert advisors and assure that the team provides credible and highly specific information as needed.
  1. Knowledge of the use of power—It is arguable that most, if not all, wars are fought to gain power; hence, knowledge of power in all its forms, including military, economic, social, and religious power as well as the use of that power should be part of the President’s repertoire. As a practical matter, no one human being can know and fluently apply all that knowledge. Therefore, a President should know how to assemble a team of expert advisors and assure that the team provides credible and highly specific information as needed.    

The candidate is likely to answer by detailing what he or she believes qualify him or her—but listen for at least the 6 areas above.

How does Candidate X’s knowledge, skill, and experience compare to the job requirements?

If the 6 broad categories above are roughly right, the question becomes

“Does Candidate X come close enough to satisfying the job requirements so that learning on the job will be quite rapid?”

Whether or not the 6 categories are roughly right, there are key questions candidates could be asked that would help inform voters.  Here are three that I like:

  1. What experience have you had in learning a new and complex job quickly?
  2. How did you go about learning the new job?
  3. How will you go about learning the President’s job quickly and safely?

I offer the questions above and several more below, not because they are the best questions, but because far too many “media experts” and “journalists” appear to be incapable of formulating or asking intelligent questions of Presidential candidates.

Here are 4 more questions that might be asked of candidates:

  1. What are the 3-5 most significant foreign policy opportunities facing the next president?
  • Who would you ask to help you deal with them?
  • How would you deal with each?
  1. What are the 3-5 most significant foreign policy dangers facing the next President?
  • Who would you ask to help you deal with them?
  • How would you deal with each?
  1. What are the 3-5 most significant domestic opportunities facing the next President?
  • Who would you ask to help you deal with them?
  • How would you deal with each?
  1. What are the 3-5 most significant domestic dangers facing the next President?
  • Who would you ask to help you deal with them?
  • How would you deal with each?

Another set of questions could be asked focused on how the President would make decisions:

  1. What is your decision making process?
  2. How does the process deal with
  • identifying alternative courses of action?
  • specifying advantages and disadvantages of each course of action?
  • examining the feasibility of implementing the course of action selected?
  • assuring that you have the best available information?
  1. How does the process utilize the new information that will come to light as the course of action unfolds?

Another set of questions could be asked focused on how the President would lead an advisory team:

  1. How do you decide who you want to be on an advisory team?
  2. How do you assure that team members will put forth their best efforts?
  3. How do you decide when team members have provided “enough” input given a short timetable for making a decision?

Neither a candidate nor a voter can be fully informed about the challenges and opportunities facing the next president.  That said,

  • Probing and focused questions such as these might help the candidate become a better candidate and the answers might help a voter become better informed.
  • Questions about isolated incidents in the candidate’s history are not very helpful. Not only do we not know what the circumstances were at the time, but we also do not know what the candidate learned from the incident, we do not know what else the candidate has learned in the meantime, and we do not know how conditions have changed.

The illustrative questions offered here are “tough questions” relevant to the actual job of the President.  The questions are not “gotcha” questions which, though popular, disclose only the incompetence or ill will of the questioners.  I put these questions together to inform myself.

As it turns out, seeking answers to them not only informed me but changed my opinions about several of the candidates.  If We-The-People sought answers to “tough questions” we’d do a better job as informed voters.  And, if I’m right about the tough questions, We-The-People should inform ourselves about any preferred candidate’s ability to put together and lead a strong, competent Cabinet.  That is the subject of Part III.

About Dale Brethower 12 Articles
Dale Brethower is a Professor of Psychology Emeritus at Western Michigan University. He currently resides in Tucson, Arizona.