Things That Are — and Are Not — Presidential

On this morning after the first presidential debate, two short lists to help put things in perspective.

Things That Are Not Presidential

1. Rambling.
2. Repeatedly interrupting your opponent.
3. Disrespecting the media (including, but not limited to, interrupting a debate moderator.)
4. Casting aspersions about your opponent’s stamina without a shred of evidence—and about her looks, which are irrelevant.
5. Name calling (including, but not limited to, fat shaming).
6. Not knowing the origins of a major threat to the U.S.
7. Not knowing that a major initiative you are promoting has been ruled unconstitutional.
8. Bragging that you paid no taxes—and then complaining “we’ve become a third-world country” because our infrastructure is failing.

Things That Are Presidential

1. Staying calm even when your opponent tries to rattle you.
2. Believing “It is essential that America’s word be good.”
3. Recognizing there is “systemic racism in our criminal justice system.”
4. Knowing foreign policy.
5. Sounding coherent.
6. Understanding that “Words matter when you run for president. And they really matter when you are president.”
7. Having the energy to be someone who “travels to 112 countries and negotiates a peace deal, a cease-fire, a release of dissidents, an opening of new opportunities in nations around the world, or even spends 11 hours testifying in front of a congressional committee.”
8. Preparing to be president.

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