The populus needs to somehow identify with its President, or at least a majority of those who vote do. Then (s)he can lead. No one identifies with Gates.
Warren Buffet does! 
What? There’s the whole Boolean union of executives and computer nerds.
Um, many if not most computer nerds hate Bill Gates with a fiery passion becauseof Windows. Then again, (and I realize I’m overgeneralizing wildly here) it is my experience among my fellow geeks that many of them do not vote or even care about politics at all.
I’m probably going to regret asking this, but why?
Security issues, reliability issues, stuff like that. And that bloody talking paper clip! 
Uh, no. Remember WindowsME? I was tired of paying to beta test Bill Gates’ ideas a long time ago. If he follows the Microsoft business model as POTUS, he’ll need roughly six terms to get it right. All the constitutional amendments needed to allow this, especially the early iterations, will be extremely buggy, and you’ll be much more likely to catch a virus at all the polls you’ll need to go to.
Yesss . . . How in the world did they manage to make an animated paper clip look like something you can’t trust?!! That damned smarmy grin . . .
“You seem to be trying to vote for Bill Gates. For help with this topic, please click OK to continue.”
“You appear to have voted against Bill Gates. This could easily be an error. Clicking OK could damage your country. You should only proceed if you are absolutely sure this is what you want to do.”
Challenge: name the source of this somewhat relevant but possibly slightly inaccurate quote:
“President?! Do you know how much power I’d have to give up to be President?”
Maybe of the wannabe variety. Most computer professionals I know would definitely identify with the guy. Oh, we may not like most of the products (I can’t stand Windows or most other MS products), but the man? He’s pure geek…one of the guys who made it.
To answer the OP…I have no idea. I don’t know much about Billy boys politics to be honest so don’t know if he’d make a good president or not…or if I’d even vote for him or not. I DID vote for Perot the first time, and think a Washington outsider would be a refreshing change from what we normally get served up. Of course, the last real Washington outsider (Peanut Boy, a.k.a. Carter) in the WH was pretty much a disaster IMHO…so maybe it wouldn’t work well outside of a fictional story…
-XT
I didn’t say Bush was actually a successful CEO. I said he and Cheney tried that approach.
Sit around and wait for their turn to be laid off? Flip Burgers, pick up trash…how long can we expect people to go to school for years, train for a career, and then a couple of years later oops…that ones shipped off to india…sell the house, declare bankruptcy and start over.
Gates was interviewed awhile back on, I believe, MSNBC and the host asked him about possible political ambitions and he said he couldn’t envision a situation where he would ever become involved in politics as an actual political leader. He basically said that his expertise lies in the software industry and as a business leader and he doesn’t have any interest in becoming President nor does he think he would be qualified.
People who are willing to learn, stretch, and change with the times career wise are safe.
I’d argue that our current President was a genuine Washington outsider as well, which would reinforce your point.
Nah, can’t see Gates as President. Even if he had a talent for politics, the link in the OP only gives evidence of this thoughts concerning education - which he’s thought about because he’s personally affected by it.
To be a good politician, you’ve got to be concerned with lots of issues that don’t directly affect you.
He needs someone to steal ideas from. Maybe if Steve Jobs becomes PM of Canada.
Leading countries and companies are completely different. Doing one well does not necessarily translate into success in the other field.
Bush a Washington outsider? How ya figure? Yeah, he never held a national elected office before 2000, but for Pete’s sake, he’s the son of George H. W. Bush, the ultimate Washington insider, the man who was VPOTUS from 1980-88 and POTUS from 88-92. Bush even lived in DC in 1988 working on his father’s Presidential campaign. He’s been surrounded by Washington political contacts for most of his life.
If Bush counts as a Washington outsider, then the term has no meaning.
[QUOTE=bdgr]
Sit around and wait for their turn to be laid off? Flip Burgers, pick up trash…
I must be special then, because everyone I know works in professional jobs - lawyers, accountants, finance professionals, engineers, computer programmers, teachers, sales professionals, etc. So what is it that you do that makes you think most of the US is flipping burgers and picking up garbage?
It’s called “being in the workforce”. There is no guarantee that your job is going to last for the next 30 years.