What is the most important quality for a President to have?

[spooky3]

I know all of these may be desirable, but which do you think is the MOST important?

If you care to comment or provide examples of how your candidate(s) show they have it, please do!!!

[Catshrink]

1. Diplomacy?

or is that covered by one of the others?

[spooky3]

2. that's a good one

[kalashnikov]

3. how about looks?

[jpgray]

4. No president has ever been wholly honest

So I would say that trait is an impossibility in a President. Integrity Yeah, that could possibly exist. At least somewhere further on the spectrum than our current Commander in Chief.

[leyton]

5. Other:

A plurality.

[RebelOne]

6. Actually, all of the above..

[spooky3]

7. maybe I should have asked which one does * have the least of?

[Dagaz]

8. vision

A President has to know where he wants to go before he can try to lead anyone there.

[terrya]

9. Some compassion for working Americans and the poor.

Qualities which this goddamned President does not possess.

A President needs to remember that there are people in this country who are struggling...be it joblessness, homelessness, or struggling to make ends meet. People who no access to health care. People who are going hungry.

A President with humanity. Is that too much to ask for?

[Terwilliger]

10. other, but it's hard to specify

the candidate needs a combination of a lot of things, but about the only way I can describe it is "that certain something"

[elperromagico]

11. How about "ability to speak English well"?

It really helps when the leader of the United States can speak the native language with some degree of fluency. Some knowledge of other languages and cultures is also highly desirable.

It helps, too, if the president of the most powerful nation on the American continent realizes that there are blacks in other countries as well.

Additionally, it would be nice if the president knew that citizens of Greece prefer to be called Greeks, not "Grecians."

Furthermore, a president should probably be aware that Social Security is, in fact, a government program.

Finally, a president should be able to commit the following sentences to memory:
"In a time of economic downturn, cutting taxes for the richest 1% of the population will not lead to substantial economic growth."
"War does not equal peace."
"An increase in dead soldiers is not an indicator of success."
and
"I will not swallow a pretzel until I have chewed it at least 32 times."

[kyrasdad]

12. Again... no all of the above choice :)

[ThomWV]

13. Can You Immagine *

Apply those qualities to Bush and see what sort of score you can come up with. No honesty, no integrity, not noticable intelligence, a poor prior performance in public life, even worse in private live, and on and on ....

[kyrasdad]

15. See... America does believe in hirng the handicapped!!!

[DrFunkenstein]

14. There Are 45 Roles For The President

1] Chief of State

2] Chief Executive

3] Chief Diplomat

4] Chief Legislator

5] Commander-in-Chief

A president needs to be capable of fulfilling all of those roles credibly, if not exceedingly.

[DrFunkenstein]

17. Oops - 5 Roles, Not 45!!!

Although it probably is more than true.

[baldguy]

16. How about a belief in democracy?

Ya know - like actualy counting the votes when there's an election?

[spooky3]

18. lol!

[Zan_of_Texas]

19. Yup

How about a willingness to understand and uphold the U.S. Constitution?

Seems reasonable. But Reagan and his VP, Bush Sr. did an end-run around Congress in the Iran-Contra affair.

BushCo Jr. -- well, the list is endless.

Knowingly lying in the State of Union address to take us into war; staff outing a CIA agent; undermining the basic separation of powers of the three branches of government ... lots more.

[Faygo Kid]

20. A knowledge and appreciation of history

Doubt that this one could place the Civil War in the right century. A little humility might help, as well.

[elperromagico]

21. I'll restate: Ability to Chew Pretzels n/t

[brainshrub]

22. Must think Democracy is a good idea.

That's it. I want to know that my President would hay down her life to protect and promote Democracy.
I know my standards are low.

[IndianaGreen]

23. Right now I want a President that will respect and obey the Constitution

The rest will take care of itself. A President has to have a certain level of integrity and honesty, a rare quality among politicians. A President has to be smart enough to surround himself with smart people, and wise enough to follow the best counsel.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

24. Diplomacy/Statesmanship/Intelligence/A Soul

[LWolf]

25. All.

Plus diplomacy.

It's a whole package. No pun intended.

[mmonk]

26. Integrity, intelligence

and putting the country's interest above him or herself. Also, country before ideology or political party.

[Ksec]

27. Integrity

integrity integrity Did I mention Integrity

[chaska]

28. Hellooo?

fund raising ability?

That's ajoke, incidentally ... a cynical, bitter, angry joke.

[tedoll78]

29. A President..

can have intelligence, emotional maturity, personally high morals, a mild temper, etc etc.. but if he/she isn't right on the issues, I don't care. We're not voting for Senior Class President.

Our nominee could seem arrogant, distant, robotic, idiotic, asinine, etc etc.. but if he/she is going to forward my views, they've got my vote.

[kodi]

30. the power of persuasion, that, or the power to cloud men's minds

which can be the same thing at times.