A renowned American academic has called for a total reform of the current system of nominating presidential candidates in the US.
Professor Robert Schmuhl of the University of Notre Dame, who was speaking at a lecture on America’s electoral system organised in Dublin recently by the US Embassy, added that the current system is “complicated and costs too much” money.
According to Prof Schmuhl, the convoluted presidential nomination process ensures that other ambitious party members who might also possess good leadership qualities do not get an opportunity to join the contest.
He said adopting a “regional system of nomination, where five states would nominate on the same day from March in an election year” would not only reduce the amount of money would-be presidential candidates would spend, but also make it possible for others to compete for their parties’ nomination.
Prof Schmuhl also took guests on a fascinating history tour of American politics.
“By nature, Americans tend to be forward looking,” he said, adding that the seeds of the 2012 American “political landscape” were sowed in the 1960s.
However, recent presidents, he said, have not been “Washington insiders”. He cited the example of the President Barrack Obama, who was serving his first term in the state legislature when he was elected President, and noted that former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton were Governors of Texas and Arkansas respectively.
“This is unlike the 1960s when most of them where Washington-connected or Washington insiders.”
Although most questions to Prof Schmuhl after his lecture concerned the Republican nomination, one guest asked him how he would rate President Obama’s presidency. The professor said he sincerely thought Obama wanted to be a non-partisan president, but that his plan has not worked.
Prof Schmuhl is the Walter H Annenberg-Edmund P Joyce Chair in American Studies and Journalism and director of the John W Gallivan Program in Journalism, Ethics and Democracy at the University of Notre Dame.
Guests at the lecture – titled ‘ a President in Today’s America’ and held in the inner rotunda of the US Embassy – included media, education, political and business professionals from all backgrounds.
