Day 5:

Happy Halloween! I wore my traditional Jack o' Lantern t-shirt to work today to liven things up a bit. Since my deadline for submitting my law school applications is quickly approaching (read: tomorrow), I am gearing up to finish my personal statement tonight. There are a few auxillary essays to write still, but those should be much easier as the scope is more defined ("Why our school?").

Listening to news clips of the recent debates has really depressed me, not because of the mudslinging and name calling, that has always existed, but because of the intelligence level of the statements being made. Compared to speeches and debates of the past, candidates speak to the nation as if we were 3rd graders. Spend two minutes reading transcripts (I couldn't bare to read much more) of the recent Democratic and Republican debates and you get this sense. Compare that to the Lincoln-Douglas debates or even the more recent Kennedy-Nixon debates and today's candidates look like they were picked straight from some community college debate club (no offense to community colleges).

My favorite excerpt from Barack Obama:

"Well, first of all, I think some of this stuff gets over- hyped. In fact, I think this has been the most hyped fight since Rocky fought Apollo Creed, although the amazing thing is, I'm Rocky in this situation."

Do people really hear this and say - "What a way to start off a debate! Wow, this guy referred to a movie I like. He must be like me. He would be a great president. "

I want someone who is not like me to be president. They should be smarter, more well read, have an exceptional memory, be emotionally balanced, and thorough knowledge in economics. It wouldn't hurt if they were fluent in other languages as well. Those people do exist. How about someone with extensive knowledge of other religions? That could be handy.

While I've opted not to comment on the current administration, we can learn from their failures; the ability to surround yourself with only the highest qualified appointees & advisers is the most underrated skill. Warren G. Harding lingers near the top of many 'Worst Presidents Ever' lists and he wasn't that bad of a guy, it was the people around him. Sound familiar? On the other hand, Herb Alpert was certainly not the best trumpet player ever, but he was the most successful (monetarily speaking) because he had business smarts and surrounded himself with the best musicians in the world.

Either later today or tomorrow I'll post my solution to the endless election process.