Mike Rowe for president

Ever since Oprah Winfrey’s speech at the Golden Globes on Sunday, there’s been a fuss about the idea of the former talk-show host running for U.S. president. And look, I get it. Hearing someone intelligent speak coherently about things that matter — even just hearing someone speak coherently — it makes you yearn for a different president than the one the United States currently has.

But if America is going to go the celeb route again for its next commander in chief, Oprah’s not the right pick. Granted she is a confident, self-made billionaire who has excellent taste in pyjamas. It’s just that you can’t discount all the junk science and nutty “experts” Oprah has pushed over the years. She’s responsible for Dr. Oz, Dr. Phil, and an untold number of unvaccinated children. That’s a pretty bad record.

If it’s a television personality the United States is after — and really, even if it’s not — the best pick for president would be Mike Rowe. Sure, he’s an actor, narrator, and podcaster. And he hosted Dirty Jobs on the Discovery Channel — where he joined in with real people whose jobs entailed them doing disgusting things, like collecting road kill.

But the more interesting part is that he’s long been an intelligent and articulate advocate for skills training for blue-collar trades. And some of the wisest comments on If U.S. voters are looking for a new TV personality for president, Mike Rowe, former host of Dirty Jobs, fits the bill — he’s been an articulate advocate for skills training for blue-collar jobs, Marni Soupcoff writes. the 2016 election came from him. From the observation that both candidates “came with a heaping helping of vulgarity and impropriety” to the conclusion that “the winner was NOT decided by a racist and craven nation — it was decided by millions of disgusted people ready for real change,” Rowe has consistently gotten it right about what the heck happened to his country the November before last.

Rowe is non-partisan and even-handed.

“I think the majority of people who voted in this election did so in spite of their many misgivings about the character of both candidates,” Rowe wrote a couple of days after Trump’s victory.

“That’s why it’s very dangerous to argue that Clinton supporters condone lying under oath and obstructing justice. Just as it’s equally dangerous to suggest a Trump supporter condones gross generalizations about foreigners and women.”

Rowe understands minimum-wage laws better than the premier of Ontario.

“From the business owners I’ve talked to, it seems clear that companies are responding to rising labour costs by embracing automation faster than ever,” Rowe wrote in 2015 when asked about calls for increasing the minimum wage.

“That’s eliminating thousands of low-paying, unskilled, entry-level positions. What will that mean for those people trying to get started in the workforce? ... [And] consider the effect on the skills gap. … If we want a skilled workforce, (and believe me, we do), should we really be demanding $20 an hour for unskilled labour?”

“[W]ork is never the enemy, regardless of the wage,” Rowe continued. “Because somewhere between the job and the paycheque, there’s still a thing called opportunity, and that’s what people need to pursue.”

Perhaps the best indication that Mike Rowe would make a good president is that he has the humility and self-awareness to think he wouldn’t. “I can’t think of a single celebrity whose political opinion I value, and I’m not going to assume the country feels any differently about mine,” he has written. He has also insisted, “[A]side from my conspicuous lack of experience (I can barely keep a TV show on the air,) I’m afraid I lack the temperament for elected office.”

Mike Rowe’s fans have been urging him to run for president for years, which always seemed to me like a nice joke.

But Donald Trump running for president also seemed to me like a joke (though not such a nice one), and look where we are now. Voters have had it with politicians.

That being the case, we might as well look for a celebrity president who has brains, humour, understanding and guts — and Mike Rowe fits the bill.

There would be some fringe benefits, too. It would be the state of Maryland’s chance to finally produce a president. (Rowe hails from Baltimore, Md.) The state of the union would be lovely to listen to, regardless of the content. (Rowe is a former opera singer.) And we might see a dog in cabinet. (Rowe has previously suggested that his dog Freddy should run for president with Rowe as a running-mate, so why not the reverse?)

It’s either that or just get actor Bruce Greenwood to play the president for the next four years. You guys decide.