"All Of Us.....Do Solemnly Swear...."

Michelle Bachman has declared as a candidate.

Bet the farm (literal or Facebook virtual) that Sarah Palin will announce shortly.

I have a problem with either of them as viable candidates.

And I'm willing to bet the farm (literal or Facebook virtual) that my problem with them isn't even close to what you might suspect.

Take a shot.

They're Republicans.

Nope. Lots of talent in the club as is true with any large group of homo-sapiens.

They're Tea Party extremists.

Don't care. Can't speak for anyone else, but I've lived long enough to have learned that party labels and politically themed adjectives ultimately don't offer any real substantive clue as to whether or not a person has what it takes to be a real leader.

They're women.

Nope. I've worked with and for women at a number of times so far in the life and its never once crossed my mind to respect them, or not, solely on the basis of their gender.

Give up?

Both Bachman and Palin pride themselves, promote themselves and proudly promote themselves as being "different".

As in, "vote for me because unlike the beltway political party hacks who shovel out the same, lame, tired cliche' shit election year after election year,I'm just a hard working, wage earning parent, wife, sister, co-worker, neighbor, yada, yada, just like you...."

In other words, they want passionately to convince us that they are "one of us".

And there lies my problem.

I believe them.

They are "one of us."

And I'm not ordinarily comfortable with choosing a mayor who's "one of us", let alone someone who will be charged with the task of leading a nation through the next four to eight years.

I don't want one of us to get that gig.

I want someone extraordinary.

Someone who understands that leadership isn't about figuring out the most efficient way to be all things to the most people but is, rather, about being courageous enough to take the stand that no one else has the stones to take.

Someone who sees three to five moves, as opposed to solely the next move, on the chess board.

Someone who will motivate and inspire me to not merely see things as they are and say why, but dream things that never were and say why not.

Someone who speaks to the heart of what's good in all of us and not just play to the fears and insecurities of some of us merely to win an election.

Someone who knows, in a place in their heart and soul we mere mortals could never access, that being President of the United States in the 21st Century isn't a brass ring to be grabbed by pandering to paranoia but a priceless jewel with potentially stunning powers to be acquired only by those who understand we are entrusting our hopes, dreams and lives with them.

At the very least, someone that will inspire our kids to want to be better, smarter and more aware than we are and not someone who asks for the privilege of being that role model while laughingly shrugging off or angrily defending their own inability to know where, when and how Paul Revere took his ride or the difference between an actor named John Wayne and a horrific serial killer named John Wayne Gacy.

Sarah Palin bobbled the Paul ball.

Michelle Bachman didn't know one John from the other.

And that's okay.

We've all said dumb things because we're normal, average people.

And that makes Palin and Bachman one of us.

That's my problem with them.