THERE’S a near-total disconnect between our real, large, urgent problems and the who’s-up-who’s-down cage match that is the daily bread of our pundit class. Unending wars, a bone-dry Southwest and flooded Midwest, the absence of a jobs program — these have been, at best, of anecdotal interest to the mouths that roar on television. Instead, media-friendly politicians and pundits have been obsessed with two contrived priorities: the debt ceiling and a presidential election that’s 15 months away.

“In moments of crisis, style dissolves into character,” says Warren Bennis, the scholar of leadership who has advised four presidents. And not just for our leaders — talking heads are also being tested. For all their eloquence, most have nothing to say that we haven’t heard them say before. Bored and frustrated, I found myself hoping for ideas that might challenge or inspire. Then I asked a range of Americans who don’t labor in politics or the media what they’d do if they were president.