Response to Should Have Seen This Coming

(See: Just Above Sunset: Should Have Seen This Coming)

It occurs to me, now that we're seeing a return to the old days -- the return of Sarah Palin, which in turn prompted the reappearance of not only Tina Fey, but Palin's exasperated 2008 handler, Nicolle Wallace -- maybe what this campaign really needs right now is the return of CBS's Katie Couric!

Not that Palin had not already been exposed as comically useless to her campaign by September of 2008, which is when she sat down to talk with Couric, but those TV interviews really zeroed in on whatever would have to pass for her aptitude for running the most powerful nation on earth:

COURIC: You've cited Alaska's proximity to Russia as part of your foreign-policy experience. What did you mean by that? 

PALIN: That Alaska has a very narrow maritime border between a foreign country, Russia, and on our other side, the land—boundary that we have with—Canada. It, it's funny that a comment like that was—kind of made to cari—I don't know. You know. Reporters— 

COURIC: Mocked? 

PALIN: Yeah, mocked, I guess that's the word, yeah. 

COURIC: Explain to me why that enhances your foreign policy credentials. 

PALIN: Well, it certainly does because our — our next door neighbors are foreign countries. They're in the state that I am the executive of. And there in Russia — 

COURIC: Have you ever been involved with any negotiations, for example, with the Russians? 

PALIN: We have trade missions back and forth. We — we do — it's very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia as Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where — where do they go? It's Alaska. It's just right over the border. It is — from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there. They are right next to — to our state.

Really brings you back, doesn't it? Reminds us of those halcyon days when having a handle on foreign policy, and an ability to communicate it, was not just a plus for a candidate but a prerequisite for being elected.

That's all gone now. As Obama pal David Axelrod tells us, the pendulum seems to swing with every new president:

For those who found President Bush wanting, Senator Obama was the most obvious remedy. ... So who among the Republicans is more the antithesis of Mr. Obama than the trash-talking, authoritarian, give-no-quarter Mr. Trump?

But what Axelrod misses here is "smart" versus "not-so-much."

To me, Barack Obama's main appeal was always his being the smartest person in the room, and that included candidate Hillary Clinton, who not only had voted for Iraq but vowed not to talk with, much less negotiate with, Iran. Obama, like Hillary's Bill, could -- and often did -- eloquently expound on just about any issue facing the country, on the drop of a hat.

Yes, Hillary wouldn't be too shabby at that, and to a certain extent, John McCain was at least in the ballpark, but doing that sort of thing was never in Sarah Palin's wheelhouse.

Now picture Donald Trump, sitting down to an interview with either Katie Couric, or maybe even Charlie Gibson of ABC, who got to interview Palin earlier in that same month, before Katie did:

GIBSON: Do you agree with the Bush doctrine? 

PALIN: In what respect, Charlie? 

GIBSON: The Bush -- well, what do you -- what do you interpret it to be? 

PALIN: His world view. 

GIBSON: No, the Bush doctrine, enunciated September 2002, before the Iraq war. ... The Bush doctrine, as I understand it, is that we have the right of anticipatory self-defense, that we have the right to a preemptive strike against any other country that we think is going to attack us. Do you agree with that? 

PALIN: I agree that a president's job, when they swear in their oath to uphold our Constitution, their top priority is to defend the United States of America. 

I know that John McCain will do that and I, as his vice president, families we are blessed with that vote of the American people and are elected to serve and are sworn in on January 20, that will be our top priority is to defend the American people. 

GIBSON: Do we have a right to anticipatory self-defense? Do we have a right to make a preemptive strike again another country if we feel that country might strike us? 

PALIN: Charlie, if there is legitimate and enough intelligence that tells us that a strike is imminent against American people, we have every right to defend our country. In fact, the president has the obligation, the duty to defend. 

GIBSON: Do we have the right to be making cross-border attacks into Pakistan from Afghanistan, with or without the approval of the Pakistani government? 

PALIN: Now, as for our right to invade, we're going to work with these countries, building new relationships, working with existing allies, but forging new, also, in order to, Charlie, get to a point in this world where war is not going to be a first option. In fact, war has got to be, a military strike, a last option. 

GIBSON: But, Governor, I'm asking you: We have the right, in your mind, to go across the border with or without the approval of the Pakistani government? 

PALIN: In order to stop Islamic extremists, those terrorists who would seek to destroy America and our allies, we must do whatever it takes and we must not blink, Charlie, in making those tough decisions of where we go and even who we target. 

GIBSON: And let me finish with this. I got lost in a blizzard of words there. Is that a yes?

I imagine Trump would have handled Gibson better than Palin did, but not by showing a better familiarity with foreign policy issues, such as the Bush Doctrine, but by being better at bullshitting his way out of not knowing it.

I'm sure Trump knows about as much as Palin about foreign policy, but he'd just be more more adept at convincing voters that what he knows or doesn't know about anything isn't very important: "Charlie, take my word for it, when the time comes, I can hire people -- and I mean incredibly smart people! -- smart people who know about all that stuff."

(Yes, but doesn't he have to be smart enough to hire smart advisers? Does he even know enough to know when to go against their advice? And by the way, does he have any foreign policy experts on his campaign?)

After all, there's this: 

“I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters, okay?” Trump said, according to video from NBC News.

Except for the guy you shot, maybe, and maybe his loved ones? I mean, nowadays, you can't swing a dead cat without hitting some stupid Trump voter.

But I agree with him! I myself wrote roughly the same thing sometime last year, that Donald Trump being seen live on one of the morning TV shows, having sex with a toddler, would send his Iowa polls numbers even higher.

But just because having high poll numbers seems to be the most important thing to some random candidate doesn't mean he's the best man for the job.

“It’s, like, incredible. ... I have the most loyal people,” he said after citing his wide lead in the polls.

Of course you do! That's because you've picked stupid people as your target market, Donald, and stupid people are the most loyal people you can find because they don't listen to reason. After all, they're not backing you because you're smarter than Obama (or Jeb or Hillary or Bernie); in fact, they're backing you because you're not!

But this 2016 election really illustrates that we, as a nation, need to revisit the way we choose our leaders. In fact, I think that, assuming we come out of this year in one piece, we should consider a literacy test for presidential (and also vice-presidential) primary candidates.

It could be a test devised by a panel of experts from various fields -- including World and American History, Economics, Government, Science, and maybe even some Math of some kind. It should, I think, be broadcast live some night, just like a debate, with all the candidates taking the test simultaneously.

And no, the one with the highest grade does not automatically get the nomination -- those who pass the test still have to be voted on -- but there should be a rule that anyone who fails the test (that is, makes less than a "C") be disqualified from the race.

Bad idea?