Reverend Alfred 'Al' Sharpton
(Project Vote Smart)
Qualifications: Um. Well. He was a tour manager for the Hardest Working Man in Show Business. He is only slightly less qualified than Lincoln was, right? Seriously, he is the head of the National Action Network, is an Pentacostal minister, and has been a political and social activist for many years.
Strengths: He is very inspiring, absolutely fearless (politically), and very knowledgeable. He has a strong philosophical framework, which allows him to see issues clearly, and makes it clear which way he stands. He also has substantial knowledge of urban problems, and has experience working directly with people who are often neglected in society. He’s a creative thinker.
Weaknesses: Well, he’s quite mad. He’s got more enemies than Osama bin-Laden. He regularly misspeaks, or overstates. And he is totally unqualified for the office.
Priorities: Urban America. Poverty, health care (rather than insurance) and reinvigoration of the cities. Also, an inclusive international policy, which relies on talking, rather than force, and doesn’t put any nation beyond the reach of negotiation.
Coalitions : Er. He isn’t really a coalition-builder by nature. He does have the ability to get those who already agree to act in that belief, rather than sitting still. But he’s not good at working with people who disagree with him, and he isn’t good at getting groups who disagree with each other to see their common ground.
Legislative: In a lot of ways, Rev. Sharpton would make a better legislator than an executive. That said, despite many years of activity, he clearly doesn’t have experience in the guts of getting legislation written and passed.
Executive: I expect that a Sharpton administration would be fractious, passionate, and very public. Since he isn’t much for compromise, he would have a tough time getting appointments confirmed. Once in place, I suspect he’d have some trouble keeping his Cabinet happy. On the other hand, he would be willing to make changes and reforms, and wouldn’t be loath to implement good ideas. He would also have advisors from different strata than most of his predecessors, and would benefit from that.
Judicial: I get the sense that Al Sharpton would like to believe in the judicial system, but can’t, quite. Perhaps that would change, if he got some influence over it. Going by his past, though, I can’t see him working well with the judiciary, or refraining from meddling.
Crisis: Hard to say, of course. It’s likely that Rev. Sharpton would be tremendously inspiring in a crisis; he has an ability to rouse people to action which could be magnificent. Also, his confidence in his own worldview would make his actions predictable, which could help. On the other hand, his judgments have not always been good, and he does not seem to be able to back out of bad situations rather than blunder on.
Day-to-day: I can’t really imagine Al Sharpton doing the daily grind of the job well, suffering fools willingly, and getting done what needs to get done. He could, of course, successfully delegate much of that. Ronald Reagan wasn’t much for the day-to-day work, and of course Pres. Wilson didn’t do any work at all for a while.
Leadership: It should be said that an Al Sharpton presidency, even a failed one, would reinvigorate the democratic process. There are a tremendous number of people in the country who believe that someone like Al Sharpton could never become president; if they were proved wrong, there would be a different attitude toward politics. I don’t want to make too much of identity politics, but it does exist. More importantly, the Rev. has a tremendous ability to translate interest into activity. He can get people out in the street. That’s remarkable, and could well be useful in a president.