Bob Cesca at Salon:
One of the many long term side effects of the Watergate fiasco was the sudden demystification of the American presidency. Not only did this spark the idea that the office can be held by anyone, regardless of expertise or accomplishment, but it also helped to manufacture the ill-conceived notion that presidents should be just like us. From there, cable news kingpins like Roger Ailes and political operatives like Karl Rove sold politicians to voters by packaging them for “the folks” — as “guys we’d like to have a beer with.” We’ve been instructed for too many years that plain-spoken leaders are better than well-educated, well-qualified ones. It’s a shallow, comfort-food selling point that never should’ve existed. Our priority shouldn’t be to elect someone just like you or me. We should demand, if not utterly fight for leaders who are far superior and exponentially more disciplined than we are.
Trump has done serious damage to our presidential ideals.
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