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| Jacob Abrahamson Class of 2017 |
As I write this blog, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are the frontrunners and presumptive nominees of their respective parties heading into Super Tuesday. While this is certainly not the first presidential election I can remember, it is the first one I can be an active participant in, and I never thought it would be as wild as it has been. 6 months ago, I would have likely laughed if someone had told me that Trump was on his way to the Republican nomination and that Bernie Sanders would have such a strong challenge to Clinton. I spoke with someone who remembered Howard Dean’s 2004 run for the Democratic nomination and thought a nomination fight could not get crazier than that, but said that 2016 has far surpassed it. In the context of such a wild election year, I find that Americans have forgotten the importance of the task at hand: electing a President.
In 2012, during a summer course on the Presidency at Georgetown University, my professor liked to mention an “it” factor of presidential leadership that transcended everything else. This concept can be hard to describe because there is no clear definition of what makes a person worthy of being President of the United States. What is clear, to me, is that the decision of who I vote for in the primary and on November will not be based on the gossip that today’s media seems so transfixed upon. Their focus on trivial parts of the election, while sometimes entertaining, is only promoting a shallow election and can only lead to leaders who are unworthy of the job. I also won’t base my decision solely on policy. Obviously, the policy views a President has are crucial, but the limited time I have spent observing politics is that the end result of most policy proposals is quite different from the starting point. I want a President with a bold vision and the ability to get policy across the finish line, whether they have to make some sacrifices or not. A successful President won’t have to sacrifice their beliefs, but may have to make compromises while working with Congress. A President needs that “it” factor of leadership by having a personality that leads and inspires others without becoming unnecessarily stubborn.
Reading Edmund Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France with the McConnell Center helped me put my finger on a clearer description of this “it” factor. He uses the phrase moral imagination, which to me means having a noble vision for how a society should be ordered and having the ability to lead people to that point. A lot of unpacking of the philosophical meaning of Burke’s work is necessary, and I am only a small part of the way to that point myself, but I find that moral imagination is a quality we must look for in a President. When electing a President, Americans should not only look for the best in ourselves, but what we aspire to be. When they speak, it should inspire us to be better. When they act, it should be effective. The bar should be set as a high as possible for the leader of the free world, and while I may seem to picky, I firmly believe that Americans have been given a sacred duty to elect a President.
It is important in 2016 that we forget the distractions we see on television and focus on the candidates who have what we really need in a President.
Jacob Abrahamson is a junior McConnell Scholar at the University of Louisville. He studies political science and history.