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What a strange question. In the US we know what can happen if an engineer is president. Herbert Hoover was an engineer. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is the current president of Iran, and his PhD is in transportation engineering and planning.

Going through a list of engineers, Arafat got a bachelor's degree in civil engineering, Hu Jintao of China got a bachelor's in hydraulic engineering, Ramos of the Philippines got a masters degree in civil engineering, Wasmosy of Paraguay was "trained as a civil engineer" but I can't tell to what level, and Yeltsin of the USSR "graduated from the construction department of the Urals Polytechnic as a civil engineer."

What if a movie star were president? Ronald Reagan. What if a chemist were president? Margaret Thatcher. What if a playwright becomes president? Vaclav Havel.

The Time article actual plays it right; it mentions the candidates engineering background, but doesn't ponder the significance of "What if an Engineer was President?"