>>smart intellectual and charming all the credentials for President!
I am afraid in America that is not enough.
Having multi millionaire (or even billionaire) backers is one of the most important things.
I seem to remember reading that a US presidential campaign can cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
For example Ronald Reagan was "backed" by the guy who owned Tupperware.
In fact reading various books in the past about the USA (Watergate, JFK, Vietnam War books etc) has made me realise they are one of the most corrupt countries in the world.
In fact America got very rich during WW2 and realised that producing weapons was a good way to stay rich so they have made sure they have been involved in military situations ever since WW2 ended.
When President Eisenhower resigned he had a warning about the military–industrial complex in the USA in whose interest it was to have a world that was always at war.
You can read more here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military%E2%80%93industrial_complex