Hillary and Barack constantly go after each other about each other's experience and McCain admits that economics is not his best game. With two short term Democratic Senators and one long in the tooth Republican how will we Americans know that we're getting what we pay for...I mean vote for?

Why not have them take a test. An “SAT for presidents” kind of test. Shouldn't our Presidential candidates be up to the same snuff we place on lesser jobs and activities? We have a test for teachers, pilots, drivers, massage therapist and court reporters to name a few. All important jobs, yes, but for the top job there’s no top test. You can’t even buy air to breathe underwater without a card to prove you passed your SCUBA test. If you fail or lie about that you might die, but at least you won’t drown the rest of the country along
with you.

Think of all the presidents the United States would have been spared if we had this simple quiz….I’ll wait…When I hire a plumber I want him to know more than I do about replacing the elbow section of a kitchen sink and I want my President to know where Bhutan is, that there are two Dakotas and why we fought WWI. Is it so bad that along with diplomacy, compassion and charisma to also want general intelligence about the world we live in? I know the argument is that every president surrounds himself with great advisors, but if Stephen Hawking lectures a Rhino, the Rhino will not suddenly turn in a paper on Quasars and Black Holes.

Of course a simple written test might not satisfy America’s blood lust for the sensational. A phone call to Alex Trebek might do the trick. Aside from the quiz itself it would be very telling if your favorite candidate can’t follow the instructions enough to answer in the form of a question. And if they can’t handle the Jeopardy buzzer how will their finger perform “on the button?”

John McCain may have a harder time passing a driver’s test at his age than becoming President. Barack refused to take the 2008 Political Courage Test so a Presidential SAT is probably out of the question and if Hillary and Bill were to renew their vows, the blood test might be a little scary. All candidates have a built in aversion to answering questions, so until we invoke a Presidential SAT we will have to base our votes on what the candidates say and do on the campaign trail, never knowing if it’s because they hear it in an earpiece or see it on a teleprompter…or more terrifying, if what they say is really coming from their own brains.