There is no job application remotely like the one to be elected to public office.
Whether the job is city councillor in Prince George or president of the United States, the hiring process requires the candidates to convince many people they will never meet in person that they are the best people for the job.
The problem is that the work that goes into campaigning and the work that goes into actually being a governing official are nothing alike.
We expect all of our politicians, regardless of their office, to be effective communicators, to exude trust and confidence, to share our political and personal values, to be our ambassadors and to be better than the candidates we rejected.
It's easy to miss what's absent from that list of attributes.
Competence. Intelligence. Leadership. Deep knowledge of government, business, history, local, national and world affairs. A curious mind. A stout heart. The confidence to make the right decisions and the humility to acknowledge the bad choices. The flexibility to adapt as events and new information alter the situation. Being able to prioritize. Knowing when to fight and when to flee. Hiring senior staff that share all of those attributes along with the courage to say no and tell the boss that he or she is wrong whenever necessary.
As voters, we're forced to presume those skills come with the rousing speech, the tough talk, the similar worldview and the gut feeling that they're a good person who will do a great job.
Governing, however, is much different from campaigning and running a government is also much different from running a business.
It is early days in Donald Trump's administration but as the new president prepares for his first President's Day national holiday next Monday, exactly one month into his term, it's clear he is colliding with the limitations of his office. Being president of the country is not like being the president of his business empire.
Issuing an executive order from the corporate suite is not much different from firing a candidate on The Apprentice. Yes, sir, thy will be done.
While the president or the prime minister or the premier or the mayor have no boss, there are significant limitations placed on their authority. As Trump was surprised to learn, issuing an executive order from the Oval Office has to pass numerous political, legal and administrative hurdles, any one of which can reject his order. No, sir, we care not for your will and, if you try to exceed your authority, we have the means to stop you or to at least slow you down.
Having a Twitter fit doesn't change that.
Add Trump to a long list of politicians on both sides of the fence that have found the bright media spotlight, the public soapbox and the roar of the adoring crowds on the campaign trail to be far more rewarding than the difficult challenges of actual governing. Every president before Trump knew this because they had previously held some kind of political office. The last three presidents - Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton - were all fantastic campaigners. The actual job spoke to them as an intellectual challenge and a unique opportunity to serve their country but the real joy in their political lives came from hitting the road.
Historically, Americans have to go back to George H.W. Bush to find a president who loved the job more than campaigning.
And that's why he was the last one-term American president.
Closer to home, there are plenty of Canadian examples.
Stephen Harper relished being prime minister and clashing with party leaders in the House of Commons but never looked comfortable appealing to voters, where emotion and salesmanship are always more valuable than rational argument and political ideology.
His longevity as prime minister had far more to do with the good fortune of the continuously bumbling federal Liberals wracked by infighting and the untimely death of federal NDP leader Jack Layton. Harper's skill as a campaigner was the discipline to stay on message, not his ability to actually sell that message.
Provincially, Christy Clark is a gifted campaigner who loves being premier but, unlike Harper, goes out of her way to avoid the vicious hand-to-hand combat of the legislature. The B.C. NDP have always been wary of slick campaigners because they somehow think that person lacks the brains and the gravitas to govern. That's why they've put forward Adrian Dix, Carole James and Ujjal Dosanjh. Victory has only come when the NDP has put forward a populist - Dave Barrett, Mike Harcourt and Glen Clark.
If John Horgan wants to have a chance at beating Clark this May, he doesn't have to be smarter than her, he has to be likeable but also angry about the last 16 years of Liberal rule.
To get elected, he needs to sell both trust and a willingness to change, as all challengers do.
To get re-elected, Clark needs to sell trust and an unwillingness to change, as all incumbents do.
The selling and the winning is the quick and easy part. Governing is hard and slow because it takes more than a swipe of the pen to get things done.
To ask for something different is to reject the awkwardness of democracy.
-- Managing editor Neil Godbout
