Presidential candidates vs. "common sense"

This is not about either President Obama or that cardboard Mitt fella.  It's about libertarian candidate, Gary Johnson.  Who is not impressive, unfortunately.  The Post's Ezra Klein is kind to Johnson but he makes an excellent point about what we can learn from Johnson's stump speeches.  Following Johnson's economic prescriptions, for example, would have left us with a disaster.  "Common sense," according to Johnson, would be to balance the budget in 2013.

Kah-boom!

When politicians begin telling me that their policies are just “common sense,” I begin getting nervous. A “common-sense” approach to how the world works would rule out quantum physics. A “common-sense” approach to how medicine works would rule out chemotherapy. A “common-sense” approach to transportation would rule out getting on a heavy metal tube that some lady in a blue uniform assures you can fly.

No one ever promised that the way the world works would accord with our intuitions. And the same goes for economic policy. Almost all of the worst economic ideas out there are sold on the basis that they’re just “common sense.” Some of them, in fact, are just common sense. That’s what makes them so dangerous. ...Ezra Klein, WaPo 

Johnson's naivete is no more recommendation for the presidency than the cynical closemindedness of Mitt Romney.  I'll take the guy who has had experience in the world and who quietly does the job against all odds.  I guess that's common sense.