As we move towards the 2016 Presidential Elections and who is or is not running, and who has a chance, most pundits are paying attention to the potential Republican field, for theirs is the most open and competitive of the two parties so far. Most assume that the Democratic nominee will be Hillary Clinton and the two or three or so prospective challengers don’t have much of a chance. However, one must remember that of all the possible contenders for the Republican nominee, is that all of them may very well be excellent Presidential material, the time may not exactly be now but later down the line. The worst thing that any of the contenders can do is decide to get in the race now when in reality they may need a few more years to gather not only more experience in all worldly matters, but to build up a firm support base and have their names and reputations not only out-there but firmly established. If this is not the case and the contender does get into the race not only does he risk losing but his whole future in politics and potential rise is pretty much shot.

We already have a perfect example of this happening back in the 2008 Presidential election when John McCain chose Sarah Palin, the then Governor of Alaska as his
Vice Presidential pick. By doing this at that time he basically plucked a fruit
with great potential from its tree (from its roots) before it could ripen. Palin,
up until that point had a great and growing political career that would of only
continued to grow. The problem is she still had a lot of growing to do in her
career and life. John McCain made the mistake of looking at Sarah and her career
so far and thinking she would make a good VP pick and put him over the top, yet
did not look any further than that. As a result, Sarah Palin was totally not
ready for what she would face on the national stage and as a result, her career
was crippled both throughout the campaign and when John McCain lost the
election. If she had never been picked as VP that year her career would have no
doubt have continued to advance and who knows in another ten to twenty years
she herself could have been a Presidential nominee. Now though that is, well
not exactly impossible is extremely improbable.

Another
good example for not plucking people to soon into the national stage for either
the Presidency or the Vice Presidency is the Republican primary race for the
2012 Presidential election. During the primary before Romney got the nomination
we saw contender after contender rise to the front for a few days or weeks and
then far and far hard in some cases. Let this be a lesion that just because
someone is talked up a lot and in the news does not mean they are good
picks, in some cases they may very well be but not at the time, only if
they are given the opportunity to grow that image and their résumé. Promising fruit
must be given time to finish growing before they are plucked; to do so before
they are ripe means one can and will be left wanting.