GOP desperate for a winning 2012 presidential candidate. But is it desperate enough for Donald Trump?

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
Donald Trump. The name conveys many things
– open mouth, insert silver foot.
– knows everything about everything and never hesitates to tell you.
– braggart
– billionaire
– bankruptcies galore
– women
– more women
– much younger women.
And now President of the United States?
He’s signaling the nation he wants it, but there is not a single reputable authority in the land who believes he’ll actually throw his oversized hat (for that oversized head) into the ring. Or that he’ll ever get into the Oval Office, unless he’s got a visitor ticket.
Except, that is, my go-fer Aime Joseph. The other day Mr. Joseph (as we call him) let me know in no uncertain terms that Trump was his pick for president next year. Given the fact that he was rabid for Obama last time round, this is a monumental change of mind.
What caused it?
Mr.Joseph’s reasons were these:
– Trump’s demonstrated business acumen.
– His knowledge and exploitation of the media, giving him near universal name recognition.
– His money.
– His money…
Get the picture?

More GOP presidential candidates than ever… no clear-cut leader or even early favorite amongst them.
It has long been a given of American politics that Republicans select presidential candidates they know well and who have generally already run for president before, even if they’ve lost. This description fits Richard Nixon (defeated 1960, elected 1968); Ronald Reagan (defeated 1968, elected 1980); Robert Dole (defeated for vice president on the Gerald Ford ticket 1976, then defeated for president 1992); John McCain defeated 2000, then defeated again 2008).

The man who fits this mold for 2012 is former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, defeated by McCain 2008. But while he’s the likeliest at this hour to become the next GOP nominee, the Grand Old Party is not yet ready to crown him.. or Sarah Palin either, who unlike Romney, actually got on the McCain ticket, only to go down to defeat with the man who chose her.
Which leaves the Republicans with the largest field of presidential candidates since 1964.
Here Trump sees his advantage… and with billions at the ready, he’d certainly be a strong candidate, right?
Absolutely not. Take a look at these…
1) First, the little matter of presidential manner, seriousness, temperament and demeanor. We like our presidents to be…. well, presidential. And even a tyke in grammar school will give a reasonable definition of what that means. We want a president (man or woman) who without much stretch fits the truly gigantic shoes of George Washington and company.
For openers Trump’s favorite subject is Trump. In fact, he hardly knows another. And when attention turns to that subject, Trump is always ready with yet another egregious, bumptious, tasteless battery of arrogance and self-congratulation. America may have near universal name recognition of the man… but we also know Trump stands for a brand of noisome self-aggrandizement that permanently closes the door to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
2) Complete lack of suitable experience for the presidency. Americans so liked the idea of our first black president that it swallowed Barrack Obama despite his thin resume with national affairs. Still, he was a sitting United States senator at the time of his nomination and election.
Republicans have traditionally been sticklers for offering the nation men who had blue-ribbon resumes with plenty of valid experience. Trump offers absolutely none of that; not a single example of foreign policy experience and (except for specialized tax information) absolutely no experience with any important subject of national affairs. In addition, he has not one scintilla of experience with members of congress. Not a cream puff amongst them, they will soon show a putative President Trump that he needs more than bombast and one-liners to deal with them.
3) A lifetime of often silly, sophomoric, ill-considered very much on-the-record remarks.
Trump is quotable alright… in spades. However, his remarks range from mean-spirited to vituperative; just plain stupid to wildly ludicrous. The media of the world love him. Voters won’t.
They know the importance of the American presidency; it’s the most important office in the world and the nation won’t tolerate an ignoramus in the job, for all that he’s rich.
4) And while we’re on the subject of the Trump billions, I reckon one very good reason The Donald won’t run for the roses is his tax returns. He’ll have to publish them of course; folks would rightly wonder at their contents if he didn’t.
But is Trump willing to bet that the nation and its tax-pressed citizens will overlook any even minor infraction that may surface? Being just the third billionaire to run for president (Nelson Rockefeller 1968 and Steve Forbes 2000), you can bet your bottom dollar each and every line of every document he is forced to release will be examined under a microscope… forcing Trump to defend the taxes he paid, the deductions he took… thereby pushing his campaign off message for days, weeks… or even stopping it altogether.
5) The women.
Trump has gloried in his ability to pick up chicks, all but his first wife years younger than he is. He should open a museum called Trophy Wives inside one of his casinos. Inquiring minds want to know.
The thing about collecting and discarding chicks (married or otherwise) is that the discarded ones wait a lifetime for sweet vengeance. Trump is a sitting duck. And God only knows how much of the iceberg of domestic catastrophes is known… just the tip?
As for his platform, policies, beliefs, and recommendations for a Trump- lead renaissance? He’s on an odyssey around America right now inciting kooks everywhere on the matter of President Obama’s right to be president because of where or where he was not born. Yup, Trump’s a “birther”, despite the fact that the State of Hawaii long ago certified Obama’s birth there. It’s typical Trump has lead with an item that has no benefit for America but that ensures buckets of free media attention from shock jocks suckled on conspiracy theories.
In short, it’s petty, beside the point, trivial.
In other words, perfect for Trump in these heady days when he looks at his unkempt locks in the mirror and sees a President Trump none of us looking hard can ever see at all for all that he’s rich as Croesus.
About the Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc. , providing a wide range of online services for small and-home based businesses. Dr. Lant is also the author of 18 best-selling business books. Republished with author’s permission by Howard Martell http://HomeProfitCoach.com. Check out Commission Maniac -> http://www.HomeProfitCoach.com/?rd=rb14eOHk

Ex-New Mexico governor Gary Johnson declares for president. Who dat, as GOP field grows some more.

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
I’m going to tell you right up front: I like Gary Johnson. He’s an ultra-personable, plain-talking, gets-things-done kind of guy. But he’s got a fever — Potomac fever — that’s going to upend his life for the next year and more until the next Republican National Convention in 2012.
You see, Johnson wants to be president of these United States… and so he’s taken his near zero name recognition to Concord, New Hampshire where Thursday, April 21, 2011 he declared his candidacy. God help him…
Gary Johnson’s my kind of guy.
Born January 1, 1953 in Minot, North Dakota (a good place to get out of), he ultimately moved to New Mexico and graduated from the University of New Mexico in 1975. We like that school in our family; my brother went there, too. Johnson and his family now live in Taos, one of the most beautiful places on earth.
In 1976 he had one of those “aha” moments that changes lives. Having graduated he was looking around for something he could do that would enable him to use his undoubted entrepreneurial skills. He decided to create a little business that would do all the fix-ups and home repairs all home owners need but which most of us are all-thumbs at doing. Gary had all the right stuff for business success. He was personable, “can-do” oriented, the man who told you what he would do… and then did it! That unstoppable American formula for success… where a person with a good idea and the determination to succeed helps others and earns big.
His first major break with his new firm — Big J Enterprises — was receiving a large contract from Intel’s expansion in Rio Rancho which increased Big J’s revenues to $38 million. Johnson was now a wealthy man, confronting one of the bedrock problems that all successful people must solve: how to find, train, motivate and keep good employees and do everything else you have to do to succeed. Always practical, Johnson went back to school, enrolling in a time management course. This helped him grow Big J into a big-time business with over 1000 employees. At that point, with all the money he and his family needed for life…he sold the business, so he could get started helping fix-up America, which had a host of home problems…. without the skills to solve them. Big J to the rescue…
“People Before Politics”.
Johnson entered New Mexico politics for the first time in 1994. He approached the state Republican Party with the (to them) absurd idea he should run for governor, wresting the state’s government from the entrenched Democratic establishment. They told him to take a hike and run for the state legislature, the most junior of positions.
But Johnson had what you need for success: an idea he believed in, the money to support his belief…. and a slogan that was more than mere words: “People before Politics”. It was just what New Mexico wanted to hear. Johnson became the giant-killer of New Mexico, defeating former Republican governor David Cargill in the Republican primary and incumbent Democratic governor Bruce King in the general election. New Mexico had itself a straight-talking man who said what he meant and meant what he said. It was a revelation to the home folks of Nuevo Mexico.
Johnson, to everybody’s surprise but his own, set about reshaping and reinventing New Mexico’s government. He evaluated what the state was doing by asking two sensible, “get to the bottom of it” questions: what are we spending our money on… and what are we getting in return?
Legislators from both parties and every bureaucrat in New Mexico did what they are good at doing, protecting themselves and their interests, sabotaging everything they could. They were, after all, the haves who took too much for the little they gave. Johnson was their worst nightmare. Mr. “Can Do” became Mr. “You Won’t”. He used his gubernatorial veto over and over again, vetoing more bills and appropriations than all other 49 U.S. governors combined. Yup, he meant what he said… And the people of New Mexico responded by re-electing him in 1998 with 55 percent of the vote. It was an astonishing bouquet from the people he was always honest to and fair; they realized he was about as good a governor as they could get. Politicians of the pandering ilk take notice.
Johnson was retired because of a two-term limit. (Another indication of what a silly idea that is. Let the people decide when to retire their officials.) This gifted, personable guy, with a resume as long as your arm (for instance he left New Mexico with a huge surplus) was at loose ends… for a couple of minutes.
Johnson’s “Our America Initiative”, Founded 2009.
Forced out of the governor’s chair, he responded by creating in 2009 the “Our America Initiative” , a nonprofit political advocacy committee that promotes common-sense business approaches to governing. Gary Johnson meant to do for the people of suffering, fed-up America what he had already done for the long-suffering people of New Mexico…
… which is why he found himself in chill and breezy Concord, New Hampshire on this April day.
He brought with him what has always distinguished the man: practical common- sense gleaned from proven business and high-level governing experience. More than that, he offers the kind of “let’s roll up our sleeves and solve this problem together” approach that is what people crave. Our problems, we know, are not insoluble so long as we work together. A man like Gary Johnson believes he’s the guy best able to work with Americans this way and so, one problem tackled after another, create the nation we want.
Frankly, this approach ought to play well in New Hampshire. The folks in the Granite State are pragmatic, “let’s get it done together” folks. As Gary Johnson goes door to door doing the retail politics winning the primary requires, he’ll find, I think, folks skeptical of course (they’re that way up north) but friendly, curious, and increasingly receptive. In short, this bright-eyed New Mexico boy, with his unfeigned interest in the people of New Hampshire and America could be the dark horse the GOP has been looking and hoping for in a large field which has so far failed to impress and inspire.
These New Hampshire folks take very seriously their task of scrutinizing each and every candidate, doing what every civic-minded American would do given the opportunity: to look carefully, ask thoughtfully, and come to their judgements independently. That is what they do and what their famous primary is for.
I’ll be surprised if he does not do well enough to take his message to other states. So, he decided to launch his campaign by achieving his first New Hampshire goal. That’s why he left Concord following his announcement and went to climb Tuckerman Ravine, a large glacial bowl on 6,288-foot Mount Washington, the tallest mountain in the Northeast.
Johnson’s climbed Mount Everest; Tuckerman Ravine was a “piece of cake”. He’s hoping this is a good omen for the primary. It could happen. The people of New Hampshire, after all, like astonishing the rest of us. We shall just have to wait and see…
About the Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc. , providing a wide range of online services for small and-home based businesses.
Dr. Lant is also the author of 18 best-selling business books. Republished with author’s permission by Howard Martell http://HomeProfitCoach.com. Check out Commission Maniac -> http://www.HomeProfitCoach.com/?rd=rb14eOHk