Place not your hopes in panaceas. The last general to try for the presidency was the odious Wesley Clark.
As for businessmen, I’d say the likes of Mike Bloomberg and John Corzine (or Ross Perot)—corrupt megalomaniacs who weren’t satisfied with just money—would leave an equally bad taste.
The last Ph.d. academic was Woodrow Wilson, in retrospect, a man truly deranged.
Said in the best Pat Paulsen voice.