Letter: Plenty of candidates better than Democratic offerings

The Republican campaign puzzles me. At its start I wanted a Washington outsider; the insiders are the problems, prospering regardless of party affiliation.

Trump grabbed everyone’s attention by naming serious problems, and blithely promising he would fix them; details to follow. His disregard of people skills is obvious; also obvious is that Washington needs lots of head-knocking to weed out widespread incompetence, something Trump hasn’t tolerated in his ultra-successful business career.

One early problem he would face if elected is overcoming the difficult, time and effort-consuming process required to terminate non-performing federal employees. Federal employment, in general, doesn’t attract the best people. Trump seems to me the most likely candidate to attack this problem, and others he’s mentioned. Granted, he’s been short on specificity. He could enhance his chances of election by a good choice of running mate: Carly Fiorina or another current opponent.

During the current campaign, I’ve favored several of the “wannabes”: Ben Carson, Fiorina, John Kasich, and Chris Christie, none of whom gained or have held significant support.

I would gladly have voted for at least 10 of the original Republican entrants, all better qualified and oriented than the dashing duo of Democrats now duking it out: aged socialist Bernie Sanders, who can’t name anything we all don’t deserve free, requiring we accelerate our way to financial collapse, and Queen of Qualifications Clinton, anxious to build on Obama’s legacy, a base as solid as foam rubber.

This story was originally published February 24, 2016 at 7:00 PM with the headline "Letter: Plenty of candidates better than Democratic offerings."