The JOB Interview

Well, it's started again. That painful (for all of us) process that creates baby kissing-smiling-hand shaking-walking sound bites for the next 18 months. Right now we have seven people applying for the job of president. Seven, that is, if you don't count the guy who wants to keep the job.
Out of the seven, we have a fairly broad spectrum (at first glance) to choose from.

Ron Paul. The slightly eccentric uncle. You know, the one where everyone goes to for advice. His is usually so on the mark but off the wall that while you're nodding, you're also thinking how you can get out of there without upsetting him.

Mitt Romney. The poster-boy for the GOP (and the DNC). Good hair, catchy first name, but he makes me nervous. Too many people like him for me to think he'd make the hard changes and choices that need to be made.

Michele Bachmann. She's to the Tea Party as I was to the Swedish Bikini Team. If I say I'm a member long enough, maybe they'll invite me to their club.

Herman Cain. A long-shot. Speaks his mind, but is that always a good thing?

Newt Gingrich. Everytime I see him, I think of the movie "Escape From New York." I just want to say, "Snake Pliskin? I thought you was dead!"

And there are two other guys. I get them confused with each other. Can they wear different suits or something? Name badges, perhaps?

Look, I'm going to vote for one of them, that's a given. The alternative is just too horrible to contemplate. But this is a job interview. THE job interview. They have to want me to hire one of them. Personally, I like them all, aside from some criticism on my part. But I can only pick one for the job. And like a job interview, I don't want them to tell me what I want to hear. I want them to tell me what I NEED to hear.

I don't have a litmus test for the office of president. I have some issues, some concerns that I'll try to address as this job interview continues. There is going to be no perfect fit, regardless of who gets the job. So the interviews will continue to find the closest fit.

I'm going to need more coffee.