Get Them Off the Couch

With apologies to Larry King, the traditional way to interview a candidate (on a couch, loving wife within kissing distance) probably isn’t the best way to determine whether the Presidential-wannabe really has the gravitas to run the country. After all, Laura and George looked great on that couch back in 2000.

Instead, put the politician (alone!) in a room with five experts, and have them engage the candidate in a series of five substantive discussions:

1. Healthcare: Why should 45 million uninsured Americans be forced to choose between their personal financial security and receiving basic preventative and catastrophic health care? How do you propose to serve these Americans, even if the potential solution runs afoul of insurers, corporate interests and providers that are interested in preserving portions of the current system that financially benefits them?

2. International Relations: Why has America’s standing in world opinion fallen so dramatically in the years following the outpouring of solidarity expressed after September 11^th? How would you structure and execute on a diplomatic agenda that quells the flames of religious fundamentalism, encourages mutually beneficial trading of goods and services, and encourages the spread and strengthening of representative government?

3. Iraq: Explain using the simplest of language, and without using vague terms like “terror,” “Al Qaeda,” or “freedom”: Who is our enemy in Iraq, and how do they directly threaten America? As defined, how can this enemy be effectively defeated using conventional military assets? What lessons have you learned from the way the case for war was made and the way it has been executed to date?

4. Infrastructure: How can America build and a transportation infrastructure that keeps pace with our population growth and demand for mobility? How can mass transit options like commercial aviation and high-speed rail be made more reliable, cost-effective and convenient options relative to the automobile? How should the plan take into account the massive variability in where Americans live and travel? How could such a plan allocate investments independent of shortsighted political pressure?

5. Presidential Elections: Why is a process that requires candidates to run full time over the course of multiple years and raise hundreds of millions of dollars the best possible way to elect a President? Does this system encourage or discourage the most qualified people to seek office? And why should the citizenry be confident that the elected President isn’t beholden to his campaign donors when their interests conflict with the national interest?

We can do the couch interview later, just to be sure that his wife loves him.