While considering who I would like to be the next president of the United States, I’ve begun thinking of the things that I am going to look for in a candidate.

Obviously, his or her basic political beliefs should agree with mine. I’d like to see less emphasis on social issues and more placed on issues like the economy and the nation’s debt. I’d like to see someone who can spur real action and not just spout eloquent speeches. I’d like to see someone who can be a real leader, an example for other politicians to look up to and engage in meaningful discussion with. I want a real person, not just a figurehead.

But in this list of qualifications, I also want someone with enough leadership experience to truly be qualified to serve as the president, the leader of the free world, the highest post in the land. I don’t want someone who has only owned a business or served as a congressperson. I want someone who has proven he or she has the ability to manage a state before I hand over an entire country to them.

Politics is a learning process. It is a skill to be developed. To be able to handle people, budgets, negotiations, disasters and killing terrorists requires practice and experience.

When choosing a doctor, are you going to choose the one straight out of school or the one with a few years under her belt? When choosing a contractor, would you like your new house to be his first job ever? When choosing a lawyer, would you like yours to be her first case? Or when choosing a nanny or a vet or an accountant, wouldn’t you rather they had some experience?

Choosing a president should be no different. We as college students know better than anyone that it’s hard to get a job without experience and it’s hard to get experience without a job. It is a vicious cycle. But a business major doesn’t apply to be a bank president for their first job and a congressperson shouldn’t be applying for president.

Certain jobs provide you with certain skill sets. While being a member of the House or Senate certainly gets you into the arena and exposes you to the inner workings of Washington, it isn’t a true leadership position that qualifies you to be president. There are no life threatening decisions to be made on a dime, there are no natural disasters to handle, no troops to command and no people to appoint.

Every once in a while someone maybe comes along who possesses these abilities without having served in the office of governor. Kennedy, Truman, Ford and Nixon all made names for themselves as presidents after only having served in Congress (for better or worse you can decide). It’s all a matter of personal opinion to decide who the “good” presidents were, but when I’m choosing a mechanic, I’d rather he’s worked on a few other cars before I hand mine over to him.