[joshcsimmons]

It is correct to be skeptical of people who parlay their fame in one domain into another. The most powerful man in the US right now is just a reality TV star.

At best, it allows "celebrities" to hop into any domain of their choosing without any real qualification or having earned their way in that particular field.

[bdangubic]

what qualification does one need to be US President (besides being born in the US and of certain age)? celebrities certainly won’t be doing any open heart surgeries anytime soon :) so there are things you absolutely do not need any qualitications for (Actor/Actress, US President) and there those you do (Surgeon, Attorney…)

[squigz]

The idea that you shouldn't need qualifications - which, might I add, is not the same as certification - to be the President of The United States is a wild one.

[bdangubic]

I am not sure if there is a single country now (or there was one ever) where there were any requirements/qualifications needed to be the President

[SenHeng]

https://www.eld.gov.sg/candidate_presidential_qualify.html

> Public sector service requirement

> The public sector service requirement is that the person has: held office for three or more years as Minister, Chief Justice, Speaker of Parliament, Attorney-General, Chairman of the Public Service Commission, Auditor-General, Accountant-General or Permanent Secretary;

> Private sector service requirement

> The private sector service requirement is that the person has: served as the chief executive of a company and the following four criteria are met:

[chickensong]

You need to be rich and well connected.

[bdangubic]

Obama was neither

[harvey9]

He might have started out as neither but to get a run at the party nomination required that he developed some good connections first.

[bdangubic]

yea for sure POTUS (or even just party candidate) will eventually be both you you don’t need to be either to begin with (though it obviously helps, more and more countries are choosing billionaires to run them :) )

[chickensong]

He was a Harvard graduate, published author, senator, millionaire, prior to running for president.

[snowwrestler]

Not just fame and celebrity. Any major success occurs within a certain narrow context, and when people stray outside that context they are not necessarily going to be better than anyone else. There are plenty of examples of business leaders, scientists, etc who tried to hop domains and fell on their faces.

[thaumasiotes]

> The most powerful man in the US right now is just a reality TV star.

That's a strange characterization; he was famous across the country before there was even a concept of "reality TV".

[e40]

He was known by an order of magnitude more people after he became a reality tv star.

[bnjms]

Right. He parlayed his fame into reality stardom.

I added it’s a word way to put it. He became more famous generally but he was already known to NY and powerful people.

[thaumasiotes]

Really? In the 70s he would have been known to the population that read newspaper comic strips. He's been a household name continuously from then to now.