dbd33

What occupation should World Leaders have before becoming World Leaders?

moneypenny20

I was honestly staggered by the amount of adulation an actress/tv presenter received for reading a speech that may or may not have been written by her. Even given the state of affairs in the US at present, the behaviour was frankly ridiculous.

BritInParis

Open season now that Trump has been elected.

moneypenny20

Well it shouldn't be. People should be coming to their senses. Humans are shit. Cats need to take over the world.

Shakyuk

You're right actually, I think that is a far better description.

Former Lancastrian

Well my cat has taken over my world
Seriously unless you want the headlines day in and day out and have every move you make scrutinized in minute detail every day and be damned if you do and damned if you don't who wants to become the President of the Free world or in other cases the PM of the UK or Canada.

Its pretty shit pay compared to CEO's and other ranks of private companies.
Far more whackos want to kill you than if you were just the CEO of say a large company.
Selfie after selfie would soon piss me off.

Sure there are some perks like travel and not being herded into a cramped airplane seat, most meals you have are paid for, you get some neat gifts but have to declare them and in some cases you don't get to keep the gift, you have to usually move into rented accommodation although your rent is paid, I suspect you get a clothing allowance for all the suits/dresses you would need. Do you even get overtime pay and how many weeks vacation do you get? If its less than 5 weeks then forget it.

moneypenny20

It would appear Trump takes a day or two off for golf whenever he pleases so maybe the actual vacation time is irrelevant???

Former Lancastrian

You do know that golf is code for strategic/business meetings so not classed as vacation.

moneypenny20

Even when the only other people on the course with you are security personnel and a golf professional? That's cool.

caretaker

It wouldn't be easy for Oprah to leave her business empire, she's pulling down about a million a day and seems to be on the way up. Intelligent, articulate, honest, compassionate, she'd probably be a decent enough president if not for lack of experience in government. Without hearing her speak on the subjects of foreign policy, defence, or security her position and capability is unknown, and we're aware of the perils of a leader at odds with their own government departments. Also as a black woman despite her familiarity and popularity across America she would be a polarising factor perfect for the alt right to go after, and probably create more divisiveness instead of less. Maybe it would be worth it in the long run anyway, if it fixed some of the broken components of American society.

Paul_Shepherd

Well many come from a legal background...or maybe someone that has actually been involved in and studied politics from a young age, just because they are famous doesn't mean they know how to behave on the world stage or whats best for a country's defence policy, trade policies, health care system to name but a few.

When Trump was running for election, the people who were for him kept banging on saying "hes a businessman, not a politician" err....thats exactly the problem....we end up with the most powerful leader in the world announcing foreign policy on twatter (intentional typo) and name calling! Embarassing doesn't begin to describe it, although it is entertaining in a cringeworthy way.

dbd33

Well yes, but does that make them better? Were, say, Arnold Schwarzenegger or Jesse Ventura worse governors than Chris Christie because he's a lawyer and they're not?

Former Lancastrian

I cant be arsed looking but I seem to remember that out of the 28 Prime Ministers of Canada I think there were 17 who were lawyers. Our current poster boy with nice hair and wears nice socks was a former high school teacher.

macadian

And a drama teacher at that..who would have guessed? Where he is on his Father's coat tails....otherwise he would simply be just another Joe public.

dbd33

That's true but nepotism is rampant here. Do we have a reason to suppose that "spoiled heir" is a worse prior occupation for politicians than "lawyer" or "entertainment personality"?

Maybe Ivanka would be better at governing than Oprah.