“The Presidency is NO Place for Amateurs.”

The quote above was from Richard Neustadt, a brilliant American researcher and author who wrote about presidential power and leadership. He served as advisor to several presidencies.

I’ve been thinking a lot about that simple statement, “the presidency is no place for amateurs,” especially because the primaries have moved to Texas and it is now my time to vote.

 Voting is a democratic responsibility. It should not be impulsive or taken lightly. It should be a conscious decision, choosing the best candidate for the job.  

Crap, I’ve been watching Obama and Hillary Clinton, undecided between the two. Likability factor goes to Obama. He’s a new face, supposedly bringing hope, but then nothing else. There’s just no substance, no experience, no accomplishments. And what makes it more outstanding it’s that nobody seems to care that for the most important job in the nation Obama has no credentials in his resume. Well, he has Oprah, but I’m not jumping on the bandwagon just because she said so.

On the other side of the coin, there’s Hillary. She’s pushy, snobbish, not likable at all. BUT she is intelligent and experienced. She knows Washington inside out and whether I like her or not as a politician she has my respect. If I take seriously the quote by Neustadt, then Hillary needs to be my choice because Hillary is not an amateur at all.

I wonder what is it about ballsy women that we don’t like? For starters, as women we tend to be more critical of our own gender. It is a trend we started in High School, one that follows us through life. We are catty, so critical about women that are in any position of power and I’m not deep or interested enough to analyze where it comes from. It just is.

I believe that what we don’t like about Hillary is personal. She rubs us the wrong way. Even when Clinton was unfaithful  with Monica Lewinsky the public was not sympathetic toward Hillary. She was too strong, too cold. In what was one of the most humiliating moments of this woman’s life, we as the public, chose to make it a joke, probably because we didn’t see Hillary crying or completely destroyed. Infidelity is ugly. It touches both parties. Clinton was a phylanderer. Hillary had failed as a woman. Which is bullshit. But that’s what comedians said when they mentioned who would want to bed Hillary. I remember all the jokes. I remember laughing and now that makes me ill because I know how much infidelity hurts. At a time when we should have admired Hillary for standing beside her man, we chose to belittle her instead. And if there’s anything from that affair that we must remember is that Hillary is damn strong. She’s ballsy and that’s something that will serve her well in the presidency because a president should have a combination of good professional and personal traits.

“The Presidency is no place for Amateurs.” If we believe that statement , then Hillary is the only choice for a democratic candidate. She gets my vote.