The problem with competent , moderate candidates

Mitt Romney's misfortunes as a moderate Republican candidate epitomize some of the difficulties of democratic rule: competence is not enough to win elections. 

Mike Bloomberg -probably the most qualified candidate around with a stellar record in business and governing New York city as an independent- came to the same conclusion recently:

The unfortunate consequence of the most competent candidates self-selecting out of the race is that (a) the choice between the lesser of two evils -the party of no ideas vs the party of bad ideas- and (b) the prevalence of "off-the-wall" extremists that in normal times would be the ones opting out of a presidential race.

As a consequence -as in 2015 with Republicans- the 2019 Democratic rosters are overpopulated with under-qualified candidates that are likely to lose against the incumbent in a landslide like the one McGovern obtained in 1972 serving the White House to Richard M. Nixon's infaust second term. 

Democracy is not the best system to select competent candidates. For all its obvious miseries, the parties' old  "smoking rooms" that were the norm before 1968 Chicago DNC Convention offered better chances to non-charismatic, yet highly competent candidates. Governors, congress members and mayors were much better at selecting candidates than the "beauty contests" -or reality shows- that came after. Primaries are not even truly democratic, because informed, reasoning voters are outnumbered by those bamboozled by smear campaigns, social media or tweets.

And -as in the case of Governor and Senator Romney and Mayors Bloomberg- they allowed competency to get in office and turn around the disasters left behind by charismatic incompetence such as Salt Lakes Olimpic Games, Massachusetts' healthcare or Lindsay's crime-ridden, broke New York-.

The alternative for competency, otherwise, is to line up behind populist characters -like McCain picking Sarah Palin as VP candidate or Romney pitching for Secretary of State for Donald Trump-. Such Faustian pacts end usually poorly.

The art of the (bad) deal

Contrary to Barry Goldwater's assertion, moderation can be virtue when applied to public policy and government as much as it is applied to private life and personal behavior. Thinking otherwise is what brought us -and US- where we are now.

It's not all well what ends well. If the economy favors Trump, he will likely be a two-terms POTUS. The collateral damage brought by his uncivil rule will last longer than those economic results: a low-grade civil war, the rise of incompetent extremists and charlatans in both parties, a general decadence of the Union.