Keller @ Large: Long Campaigns Serve A Purpose

BOSTON (CBS) - Hardly a week goes by without somebody complaining to me about the presidential race, how nasty it is, how endless it seems.

I feel your pain.

But these long campaigns do serve a purpose.

Serving as president is a test, to say the least, a severe test of skill, patience, compassion and judgment.

The campaigns are also a test which, however imperfectly or repulsively at times, tend to expose the strengths and weaknesses of the people who propose to wield extraordinary power over us.

Barack Obama's 2008 campaign showcased his calmness, dignity and intelligence. It also exposed his egotism and naïvete about how Washington works.

Mitt Romney's 2012 campaign conveyed his basic moderation and gentility, while spotlighting his lack of political principle and disconnection from political reality.

Voters decided Obama's plusses outweighed his weaknesses, while Romney's did not, and voted accordingly.

This time around, the long campaign has given Hillary Clinton the chance to convey her grasp of policy detail and toughness as an antidote to her slipperiness and pandering instincts.

And time has not been Donald Trump's friend, allowing voters impressed by his political incorrectness a chance to absorb the shallowness of his intellect and ethics.

Is the campaign season too long?

Yes it is.

Thank goodness.

Listen to Jon's commentary: