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This is meant as a DOE contest entry. The question posed by the DOE is this: ""What one trait do you feel is most important for a eUS President to have?"

For the moment, I believe DogPyle is in the lead, as I found his contest entry the most refreshing, honest and insightful. Unless I write about 'backscratching,' I'm not sure I can even top his entry.

For the curious, the contest is here: Your text to link here...

My entry:

There are many traits that a leader could have. A military leader needs strength and some knowledge of strategy and tactics. The leader of a political party needs to have a certain amount of charisma and tenacity.
But a country president is different, as they need to be able to simultaneously deal with foreign leaders while also keeping one eye on Congress and the various political parties.

The qualities that make you great at one thing don't always overlap with the qualities that make you great at another.

Abraham Lincoln failed at every job he had, made a mess of his personal and professional life, and could be pretty ornery. By all accounts, Jimmy Carter is an excellent businessman, was a great Naval Officer, spends much of his time and energy feeding the poor and building homes for the homeless. History has declared one of them a great President and one of them... not so much.

Why? Because Jimmy Carter failed to deal with the energy shortage, the Iranian hostage crisis and the various other ills that beset America. Whereas Lincoln won the Civil War.

And so I have decided that the #1 trait an eUS POTUS must have is Success.

Being successful: it isn't a matter of luck or determination; if it was, anyone could cultivate it. The quality of success that I am talking about is not superficial, such as winning the roll of a dice or even a Hero medal.

Rather, I mean the sort of success that is so internalized that you accept no alternative. It gives you that 'eye of the tiger' hungry look in your eyes. You are willing to say or do anything, and pay any price. And sometimes that price is an altruism of spirit that can't be faked; to be an effective ePOTUS requires juggling the needs of several competing constituencies. This success can't simply be wished for; it requires a great deal of experience, both in terms of game mechanics and in knowledge of various PP and MU leaders and other countries and CPs. Sometimes the price paid is softening your edges so you have a temperance of spirit; no one is going to elect a jerk who can't govern his own emotions. Sometimes the price paid is learning how to delegate. Sometimes it is learning how to compromise or to listen. In any case, it's a very heavy price to pay, which is why it is such a rare quality. So many people would rather self-sabotage themselves in ways big and small simply because they would rather indulge some petty vanity or nurse some slight. The successful CP has none of that; it is all let go as distractions from the prize.

And the truly Successful candidate knows that he or she wants to be a leader for the right reason. You have to truly believe that your being elected will be (and do) good for the greatest number of native-born American citizens. You can't be doing it because you're mad at Unity, or even mad at the AFA. You have to be for something, and you must truly believe that whatever vision you have needs to be shared with the world. And if you truly know this and believe it, then you realize that doing anything but sharing your vision is wrong, and therefore that any cost is worth paying to spread your own particular message of Success.

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Okay, that's my entry. Good luck to all the contestants!