More Than "Smart Enough"

Dear Andy Rooney,

I know I am smart enough to be President. And I believe that you, after you read on, will not only acknowledge that fact but actually might end up supporting me.

I am smart enough to be President because:

• I know I don't know all the answers, or even most of some of them;

• I know how to ask questions, listen to the answers and then ask more questions until things are clear, defined, identified in a manner where answers are possible;
  

• I know that a good leader is just that -- a leader not a dictator;

• I am not afraid to seek the counsel of, and actually hire if possible, those who know far more than I;

• I understand most of the Constitution, in its original meaning and not necessarily as the Court has reinterpreted it;

• I understand why the President must be a figurehead -- a single individual speaking for a multitude, while working toward realizing the will of the people is almost as important as the "won't put up with it" of those same people;

• As President it should be my duty to work on saving this country from itself, on feeding our hungry despite the hunger of others, to provide medical care for all our people rather than having a disgraceful level of poor or no medical care for a large part of our population;

• A critical responsibility of the President is to educate -- not just children but adults, not just voters but Congress;

• I believe that we, and our country, have limited resources and those resources should be spent on "we the people" -- regardless of tyrany, pain, and/or evil somewhere else;

• I believe there ARE answers, and that they can be both found and instituted, despite the fact that there will always be some portion of the population which feels slighted;

• I believe that we the people can see and understand, accept, and "forgive" some things, because the overall picture becomes clear;

• I firmly believe that "selfish" is NOT a 4-letter word. The more people dependent upon me/you/all-of-us, the more we need to take care of ourselves else we shall be unable to help anyone anywhere any time.

I once said that anyone who volunteered to be President of the United States had to be crazy; I still believe that, but I also realize that some forms of "crazy" might not be all that bad.

Am I likely to become President? Well, let's just say that I am more likely to win that $10 million and be presented with a big check on live TV. Would I want to be President? NO! I am old, tired, much of me worn out, disabilities which severely limit where I can go and what I can do, and I am just recently a grandparent for the first time. Would I accept the "sentence" if it were the result of the vote? Yes. Gladly? No. Honestly afraid of all the necessary work and extended period of having no life of my own? Yes.

Well, Mr. Rooney, do you think I'm smart enough to be President? Or just smart enough to know that no one is smart enough to go it alone?

Think about it ... while I do my best to put it out of my mind.