Here’s an interesting question, I think. What if people selected their leaders more like sports clubs pick their rosters, or even like major corporations pick their CEO’s? Many of the best soccer players in the English Premier League come from other countries. The same is true of Major League Baseball. The country needs a president; the Mariners need a shortstop. Obviously there are issues of loyalty, national pride, etc., that preclude this from happening in real life. But I wonder, how many countries would applaud it if Bill Clinton, for example, took over for whatever hapless idiot has been running things into the ground?

This mental exercise is more interesting if you think about various presidents and presidential contenders and ask yourself how many takers there might be for their kind of experience and leadership.

Al Gore, for example, would have to be a high draft pick, right? But how many people would want Dan Quayle taking over.

Don’t get me wrong, many countries would never consider being run by a foreigner, and I don’t want to insult anyone by suggesting any exceptions. I’m just saying, there are a lot of countries that could really benefit from a leadership change. And, if countries were willing to hire the most capable from the entire worldwide pool of people, they’d probably have more success. We have foreign CEO’s running some of our biggest and most successful corporations and hardly anyone bats an eye.

I’m pretty sure that it the world changed and countries suddenly started drafting leaders and signing them as free agents that Sarah Palin would still be out of work.