Don't want a beer with the president

Our nation suffers from a collective malady that defies logic: Beer with the President Syndrome. Likely an outgrowth of our reality show obsession, we long to elect someone who understands us and feels our pain.

We want to have a beer with them and chew the fat. At least some of us want the adjacent bar stool. I don't. I don't even want to be in the tavern because I want my leader so preoccupied with survival he has no idea what's on tap.

Having witnessed Kennedy's 1959 race I recall voters being impressed by brainiacs. Voters booted candidates off the island if they didn't cut it in the smarts department. I don't recall hearing anyone say they wanted to meet JFK for a beer.

Most of us would be too intimidated to swallow much less chat. Frankly, I'm not sure when having beer with the president became so important. Historically, we picked leaders who were richer, more powerful, more influential and better educated than most, acknowledging that most of us are flawed in ways that make us incapable of running a country.

\We can barely make time for in-person banking, don't want kidnappers plotting to snatch our kids and don't appreciate comedians taking potshots at us. We sure don't want to bomb a village at 3 a.m. So, perhaps having a president unlike us makes more sense. Call me a Neanderthal, but I want my president too busy holding the U.S. together to schmooze over a frosty lager.

I don't care if he knows my name or mentions me in a press conference. If I want a beer, I'll call a friend. I want my president to be so busy; not only does he have no time to meet me for a brew, he hasn't the time to return my phone call either.

Gail Cohen

Wood Dale