ANOTHER CHOICE FOR POTUS?

Gary Johnson doesn't measure up

Gary Johnson and William Weld, the Libertarian Party nominees for president and vice president, respectively, brought their fiscally conservative, socially tolerant message to an interview with the Washington Post on Thursday. In some areas, their honesty and resistance to poll-tested polish have a certain bracing appeal. Johnson had no apparent qualms about calling for some politically dicey policies, such as raising the Social Security retirement age to "at least 70" and encouraging government programs that would test heroin quality in order to reduce the number of overdose deaths.

He and Weld declined the opportunity to attack one of their rivals, Hillary Clinton, over her State Department e-mails, saying that FBI Director James B. Comey was right to recommend against any indictment.

But this refreshing honesty could not cover up the ticket's defects and lapses. These start with a lack of general knowledge and preparation. Johnson, the genial former governor of New Mexico, could not tell us what share of the economy the federal government should spend, only that "whatever the current level is," it should be reduced "by a few percentage points." He did not know what the nuclear triad is, which, though admittedly alarming in a potential commander in chief, might have been at least understandable if Donald Trump had not infamously muffed the same question.

None of that is necessarily disqualifying in this extraordinary political year. Johnson surely could get up to speed in some areas he hasn't thought much about. Indeed, he and his running mate mentioned that they are getting briefings from the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank.

More disturbing for anyone inclined to take this candidacy seriously was Johnson's habit of resorting to wishful thinking whenever reality collided with libertarian ideology. Getting the government out of the way, he claimed, would solve a range of complicated social problems. Police shootings and various racial disparities have been results of the war on drugs, he argued, as if racism and police brutality would not exist if marijuana were legal. Climate change is real but regulations to cope with it aren't needed, because consumers will demand clean energy, as if transforming the energy system were as simple as buying fair-trade coffee.

The Islamic State is a danger, he acknowledged, but he suggested it will work its own way into oblivion; no need for U.S. troops to help in that process. And he would solve the nation's health care challenge by abolishing most health insurance.

In short, Johnson offers simplistic solutions to many complex problems. Voters hoping to find a serious alternative to this year's presumptive major-party nominees are apt to be disappointed in what he is trying to sell.

FROM AN EDITORIAL IN THE WASHINGTON POST