Letter to the editor: What makes a good president?

President’s Day was last week.

On this day, Americans think about the great presidents of the past. However, our current president and his predecessor have been extremely unpopular.

In the last Pew research poll, President Trump’s approval rating was only 37%, and Joe Biden’s last CNN poll listed his last presidential approval rating as 36%. In this letter, I would like to address the traits we should look for in our next president and what we can do to get a better president.

The first trait I think everybody can agree on is that we want a president who is working for the common good of the people and not for himself and his family. Both Trump and Biden have been accused of using the office to become richer. Why don’t we all agree to make laws to stop presidents from self serving? How about forced divestments and being prohibited from owning stocks? Why not make it a legal requirement to show their taxes and provide a list of all their assets?

Most of us on both sides of the political divide want a president who is working for common people instead of the billionaires or the elites.

The current president has the richest cabinet in U.S. history (according to Forbes, Aug. 16, 2025), surpassing the second richest, which was his first term cabinet. That is not a good sign he is working for common people.

We need a president who has representatives from unions, working farms, small businesses and other working class people in his cabinet and as advisers. We need a president that spends time with grassroots organizations rather than just billionaires and big corporate donors.

But, currently, presidential campaigns cost billions of dollars. If we ever want presidential candidates that aren’t in debt to their donors we need campaign reform.

Currently, the country is extremely polarized. Most Americans are strongly for one party and strongly against the other. Very few bills have been able to pass with votes from both parties. We need a candidate who helps bring the country back together. This president should represent all the people, not just the people that voted for him or her.

Finally, we need a president who respects the Constitution. Our founding fathers wrote the separation of powers into the Constitution so that we would not have a king. They knew that too much power in the hands of one person would lead to corruption.

We need ironclad laws that prevent presidents from using supposed emergencies to gain powers over the economy and over the military. Congress, the courts and the press are all supposed to be checks on presidential power.

We need to make sure they serve that function again.

Daniel Meekhof

Packwood