just recalibrate the discussion a bit:

-No one is saying CEOs mistreat people or get rewarded for behaving like assholes. Some do, some don't (depends on the company), but the bottom line is the incentives are different. CEOs manage to a bottom line, and when they aren't making a profit can easily "cut the fat." When employees cost more than they produce, those employees can be fired. When a facility is a loser, it gets closed. And so on. The president can't fire people with cancer or special needs, and can't shut down Detroit or West Virginia and declare it a waste of resources. Similarly, a CEO doesn't have to get elected or answer to voters, doesn't have to work with an independently elected body that sets his budget and funding priorities, etc. He usually has dictatorial authority. The good ones do promote a good corporate culture and so on, but my only point was that the experience you get running a business doesn't really prepare you for being an elected president. Much at all -- and less so than being mayor of South Bend does (where you do have to learn all those things).

(2) Of course there are corporate executives who have traits that would or could translate well to politics. No one said otherwise. What I said was that being a corporate CEO doesn't prepare you to be president. Mitt Romney is a good example: he didn't run for president on the ground that he ran a business. He ran as a successful governor of a significant state who also had a law degree, had run a business, and had previously run other political campaigns. He certainly wasn't some corporate jackass showing up and claiming that the fact the sold widgets for a profit somehow qualifies him to be POTUS. He had some pretty deep policy experience, to say the least.

I don't know much about Tim Cook, but you're talking about someone's potential as a public servant, not qualifications to be POTUS.

In any event, all I said was that being a Naval intelligence officer and mayor of a small city brings more to the table than running a few casinos and a reality TV show. I stand by that comment.