If these people can become president or governor …

… Then why couldn’t I?

Just because the President has a great seal doesn’t mean that only great people ascend to the highest office in the land.

I just realized we have less than three weeks until - very possibly - the most important presidential election of my lifetime.

While thinking about this, I started thinking about all the other presidents and governors who have served as my political leaders. This thought exercise proved to be a jolting trip down memory lane. 

My main take-away is that just about anybody can be elected CEO of a state or nation.

… Or voters don’t always elect the brightest bulbs in the hardware store.

… Or countries and states apparently run themselves so who is elected really doesn’t matter as much as we might think.

… Or American voters have a rare talent for electing people who should have never ascended to these positions.

Here’s my quick take on the U.S. presidents of the last 50 years. For a bonus, I’ll add my Cliffs’ Note assessments of some of my state’s recent governors.

Joe Biden. This politico, who has been running for office since he was in his 20s, provided a tremendous public service by proving, once and for all, that a “president” doesn’t necessarily run the country. One can be president and also suffer from ever-worsening dementia … and still break records for most votes received (allegedly).

Donald Trump. Mr. Trump had a distinguished career in a demanding, cut-throat profession (real estate developer in the Biggest Apple of them all). But our future president became a cultural icon after starring in a reality TV show. Trump did show us that one doesn’t have to be a life-long politician to reach the pinnacle of this God-awful profession.

Barack Obama … was a “community organizer” before someone convinced him to run for state senate. He was then asked to give one speech at the Democratic National Convention, which led to him becoming a U.S. senator and then - lickety split - president of the United States. A man who many classmates never saw attend an undergraduate class at Columbia was accepted to Harvard Law School where he became editor of the Law Review. 

While he graduated magna cum laude, I don’t think Obama ever tried a legal case. Still, he obviously had benefactors in high positions.

Obama’s race probably helped him in politics. While everyone says he’s black, he’s also half white and was, in fact, raised by his white grandparents. Everyone also says he’s extremely smart. Personally, I think he’s just pretty smart. Like all prominent politicians, he’s also now a multi-millionaire …. so the community organizer career track worked out well for him.

George W Bush … really was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. “W” got set up in the oil business and his father was fairly well known. He was a cheerleader at Harvard, proving you don’t have to be the quarterback.  Since his two presidential terms ended, W has become an artist (like Hunter Biden). I don’t have any of his pieces yet though.

Bill Clinton. Aghhh! This man was running for president since sixth grade - which proves that if you want to be president one day, start working your program in middle school. In my opinion, Bill and Hillary Clinton were the inspiration for the First Couple in “House of Cards.” 

It’s quite possible Bill Clinton was a repeat customer of Jeffrey Epstein and he’s been accused of a couple of rapes. He had a sordid affair with a 22-year-old White House intern and he and his wife started one of the great charitable foundations of our times. The Clintons have one daughter, Chelsea, who may or may not be the biological daughter of Web Hubbell. The Clintons are certainly fine, upstanding people.

George Bush … once led the CIA, was a Congressman, UN Ambassador, director of the RNC and did well enough in the Texas oil business. He finished second to Ronald Reagan in the 1980 election, which got him eight years as VP and then a promotion to the top job when he bested the political titan, Michael Dukakis.  As president, he didn’t go wobbly when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait but, in retrospect, he should have.

Ronald Reagan was my favorite president. All the experts said he was going to start WWIII with the USSR, but he actually improved relations with this country and played a role in the disintegration of this evil communist empire.

Ronald Reagan was once a star in B-list Hollywood movies and became a budding political star after serving as host on a TV show sponsored by General Electric. He leaped on the national political radar when he gave a powerful speech for Barry Goldwater, proving that one memorable speech is all that’s required to become a force in national politics.

Jimmy Carter. This peanut farmer became governor of Georgia and benefitted from voters not wanting to elect Richard Nixon’s former vice president, Gerald Ford. 

I remember several events from the Carter Administration - the Iran hostage saga, terrible inflation, the boycott of the Olympics (because America was so upset a nation would invade Afghanistan) and President Carter’s brother, Billy, a hoot who created his own beer. I also remember President Carter changed the direction of the part of his hair while he was president. It’s funny the things you remember about presidents.

BTW, I just read that President Carter, who is still alive, just cast an early ballot for president. (So we know Kamala Harris has an early lead on Trump).

My state has had some impressive governors

In Alabama, citizens of my state have been entertained by an interesting run of governors, none of whom will probably get on our State’s version of Mt. Rushmore. (Alabama’s greatest leaders were two football coaches - Paul “Bear” Bryant and Nick Saban).

Kay Ivey is our current governor and is actually a friend of mine and a nice person. I like Gov. Ivey, but I cringed when she provided, perhaps, the most infamous sound-bite castigating ignorant and selfish “unvaccinated folks.”

Governor Ivey became governor when our previous governor, Robert Bentley, had to resign after he had some kind of strange affair with an advisor, a lady who might have been running the state.

Trivia: Gov. Bentley is a dermatologist whose previous claim to fame was that he was once the dermatologist for Coach Bryant. (That, right there, was reason enough for me to vote for him).

Don Siegelman was another career politician who ascended to the top spot in our state, but was convicted of taking an illegal bribe and served more years in prison than he did as governor.  If I remember correctly, Siegleman accepted a big donation from Richard Scrushy, the founder and CEO of our state’s best-known corporation, Health South. The donation was to fund Siegelman’s campaign to get Alabama a state lottery.

Scrushy was also convicted of investor fraud and served time in prison. For a brief period of time, the college football stadium in my hometown was named in honor of Scrushy. But I don’t think Mr. Scrushy followed up on his stadium financial pledges and “The Scrush” is once again known as Veterans Memorial Stadium.

The governor who might have had the greatest political achievement in my lifetime was “Little Jim Folsom” who, I think, was also convicted of something and kicked out of office. Little Jim’s father, Big Jim Folsom, was one of the great political characters of the South and once lost an election because he reportedly showed up to a debate three sheets to the wind.

Before he was kicked out of office, Little Jim came up with a package of incentives that convinced Mercedes to build a giant auto plant in Tuscaloosa. Since that plant was a huge success, several other prominent auto-makers also built plants in Alabama. The image of Alabama as a smart place to operate a big business improved dramatically because of Folsom. I don’t know what Little Jim is doing now, but I hope he’s doing well.

Guy Hunt. The most shocking political upset in Alabama history happened in 1986 when Guy Hunt, a primitive Baptist preacher best known as an Amway salesman, beat a well-known Democratic career politician.

Guy Hunt was elected because voters were irate that the State Democratic Party rescinded the election of Charles Graddick, declaring that Graddick beat Bill Baxley in the primary because of illegal cross-over votes. That was the end of Democratic governors in Alabama.

The sky didn’t fall when our state was led by a Republican Amway salesman, but, alas, Gov. Hunt was kicked out of office for a scandal involving illegal contributions to Hunt’s second Inauguration Fund.

I’ll have to go back and tally this, but I think at least four of Alabama’s recent governors never finished their terms as governor.

As Hillary might ask, what difference does it make?

But here’s the thing: I couldn’t tell any difference in my daily affairs regardless of who the governor was or what scandal booted him out of office.

Thinking about all these sterling and brilliant national and state political “leaders," I’ve come to the conclusion that I could be governor or president.

If an Amway salesman can become governor and a community organizer can become president, why can’t an obscure Substack author? All I need is someone to ask me to give the keynote address at the next Republican convention.

No ghost-writers needed for me. I’ve already written the speech in my head.

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