# Why would any sane person want to be the next potus? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 5, 2019, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-any-sane-person-want-to-be-the-next-potus/841322 "2019-10-05T19:30:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2019, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-any-sane-person-want-to-be-the-next-potus/841322/21 "2019-10-06T03:36:08Z")
> [@Alpha\_Twit](#): > > Even for a relatively sane and honorable POTUS, they literally can’t do _anything_ without pissing somebody off. Imagine have to choose between having chicken salad vs tuna salad for lunch and knowing that whatever you choose, letters, E-mails and petitions are going to fly questioning your intelligence, your morals, your very soul. EVERY choice you make, every act you perform and somebody hates you for it. > > I’m with the OP on this. You don’t have to read the hate mail. That’s what secretaries are for. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2019, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-any-sane-person-want-to-be-the-next-potus/841322/22 "2019-10-06T03:55:11Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > This is the thing that would stop me from pursuing any office. I don’t need the whole world knowing that I got a D on my Aerodynamic final exam. Or that I had an illegal hot plate in my room that one time. Or that Sister Mary Alice made me stand out in the hallway because I didn’t follow directions on my worksheet in first grade. If enough dirt can’t be found on you, it’ll be fabricated. OTOH if you were Tramp you’d brag of your crimes and be adored for your honesty. “In kindergarten I grabbed-em by the pigtails. Then I grew taller and aimed lower. It wasn’t rape if they enjoyed it.” > [@](#): > > Seriously, while I’ve tried to live a decent life, I’m sure I’ve done and said things that could be interpreted or twisted in horrific ways if someone was so inclined. Not to mention what might be said by anyone I may have pissed off in the past. I would be knocked out of any race more elevated than county dogcatcher (and dogs like me). I’ve killed or injured nobody; racked-up no major convictions or settlements; not cheated on taxes much nor spouse at all; used Twitter. But I’m doomed politically. Too many minor creaky details infest my past. Must I bleach my history? > [@](#): > > That, and my total lack of leadership skills. Me too, but such skills seem useless in Tramp’s DC. I recall an old underground comix bit showing “leadership training” as eating human shit when so ordered, to know how to similarly break others. Tramp’s minions seem fairly well-trained. That’s leadership! ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2019, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-any-sane-person-want-to-be-the-next-potus/841322/23 "2019-10-06T05:54:13Z")
It’s a little outdated, but the Onion had the answer to this: [Black Man Given Nation’s Worst Job](https://politics.theonion.com/black-man-given-nations-worst-job-1819570341) ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2019, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-any-sane-person-want-to-be-the-next-potus/841322/24 "2019-10-06T14:37:02Z")
> [@KarlGauss](#): > > For anyone who wants to be POTUS: > > Do you have any idea the shit they’ll dig up on you? > > Or the shit they’ll make up about you (and the deepfaked docs to prove it)? Trump is a remoseless sex offender and felon and it didn’t stop him in the slightest. Honestly, considering how radicalized this nation has become the idea of Trumps base disliking the next POTUS would be more of a badge of honor than anything else. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2019, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-any-sane-person-want-to-be-the-next-potus/841322/25 "2019-10-06T15:20:33Z")
There’s a reason many children say they want to be President when they grow up. Sure, they are too young to understand the drawbacks of the position, but it’s still one of the greatest, most powerful, most impactful and attention-getting jobs a person could ever possibly get. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2019, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-any-sane-person-want-to-be-the-next-potus/841322/26 "2019-10-06T15:38:53Z")
I certainly wouldn’t want to be POTUS, now or at any time. But I can imagine plenty of reasons, honorable and dishonorable, why someone (who is different from me) might want to, including: It’s the job their whole life has been leading up to The fame The power The prestige The opportunity to serve their country The opportunity to make a difference in the world The challenge “Surely I can do a better job than the current occupant of the Oval Office” ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2019, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-any-sane-person-want-to-be-the-next-potus/841322/27 "2019-10-06T16:13:33Z")
I wouldn’t do it. I would be a really terrible president, and there are lots of aspects of the job I would hate, even if I weren’t afraid of making a huge mess of the US. But I can think of lots of reasons a same person would want to do it > [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > …It’s the job their whole life has been leading up to > The fame > The power > The prestige > The opportunity to serve their country > The opportunity to make a difference in the world > The challenge > “Surely I can do a better job than the current occupant of the Oval Office” The opportunity to make the world a better place The opportunity to make a TON of money after you are done with the job At least for a guy, it makes you REALLY sexually attractive. (okay, present president excepted, but in general, power makes a man hot.) The opportunity to meet lots of interesting people, and have them all care about meeting you. Great healthcare for the rest of your life. Great security, too. (okay, mostly kidding about those.) ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2019, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-any-sane-person-want-to-be-the-next-potus/841322/28 "2019-10-06T16:43:17Z")
I’d love to be president. Honestly, I think I’m qualified today but I don’t believe that other people would agree with me enough for me to raise the money necessary to convince people that I’m awesome. Running for president would suck since you have to deal with people going through your background and defending things you did decades ago. Basically, running for president is letting people try and ruin you life if they succeed you get nothing but a ruined life and if they fail you get a great job. That a tought proposition. Once you’re president though things get pretty good. You get access to information and get to make decisions that will change the world. Of course there is stress but every good job has stress. The only real problem with being president is the pay cut by the time people think your qualified for the job 400k per year isn’t that much. The life time pension of that 400k makes up for four years of lower earnings. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2019, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-any-sane-person-want-to-be-the-next-potus/841322/29 "2019-10-06T16:53:52Z")
> [@Oredigger77](#): > > Basically, running for president is letting people try and ruin you life if they succeed you get nothing but a ruined life and if they fail you get a great job. They may fail but they won’t give up. I suppose, though, after four (or eight) years most will have found other targets. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2019, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-any-sane-person-want-to-be-the-next-potus/841322/30 "2019-10-06T17:19:03Z")
> [@KarlGauss](#): > > They may fail but they won’t give up. > > I suppose, though, after four (or eight) years most will have found other targets. Ehh, I can’t imagine caring about people saying I’m raping babies in the basement of a pizza place or that I’m not an American due to where I was born. In other words being Bill Clinton is a pretty good life being drug through the gutter like Hillary for nothing would suck. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2019, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-any-sane-person-want-to-be-the-next-potus/841322/31 "2019-10-06T17:53:01Z")
I might do it for the healthcare. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2019, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-any-sane-person-want-to-be-the-next-potus/841322/32 "2019-10-06T18:13:39Z")
Well in one direction there’s this: > [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > It’s one of the most prestigious job there is. > > The standard of living is better than what a billionaire has access to > > Ex presidents easily become multi millionaires. You can make $200,000 a speech in retirement. > > You can push your ideological agenda. > > You can mold the world. > > You have massive power. but then there’s also this: > [@Tamerlane](#): > > Just focusing on the job itself you have four-eight years on a hot seat, your every move and bowel movement scrutinized in agonizing detail. Despised by large segments of the country, grudgingly tolerated by many others, pathologically adored by a few( those could be the worst ). The constant stress of knowing that even seemingly small decisions you might make might end in a disaster where not only could you be responsible for many deaths, but you could leave a legacy that will haunt an entire country( and you personally ). A life lived in partial confinement, where even wandering out to grab an In-n-Out burger requires either a ridiculous big production or a Get Smart-style incognito raid. God knows how much premature aging. > > And then when it is all over after a few short years of being THE MAN you have a continuing lifetime of partial, security-smothered confinement and periodic bursts of intense, intrusive scrutiny. Paparazzi will be haunting you and nutcases will be picking through your garbage until the day you die. And you aren’t just inflicting this on yourself, but on your entire family. After you die they’ll still be picking through your kid’s garbage. Especially the part about: > [@Tamerlane](#): > > even seemingly small decisions you might make might end in a disaster where not only could you be responsible for many deaths, but you could leave a legacy that will haunt an entire country No matter how smart you are, and how well-informed you are, and how great you are at picking advisors: you are almost certainly going to get something wrong. And people are going to die, because you got it wrong. Sometimes people are going to die because of what you decided, even if you got it right. And in some cases, it may not be possible to know for years – or ever – whether they died because you got it right, or because you got it wrong. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2019, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-any-sane-person-want-to-be-the-next-potus/841322/33 "2019-10-06T20:03:58Z")
If installed as president, I promise to serve only long enough for a pension and then to resign and get the hell out of Dodge, maybe to Yucatan to mingle with swamp creatures. ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2019, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-any-sane-person-want-to-be-the-next-potus/841322/34 "2019-10-06T20:17:21Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Trump has really lowered the bar, so it’d be hard not to look awesome in his wake. Inanimate Carbon Rod for President! Vote Rod/Wiggum 2020! ---
**Author:** ![Fugazi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f08c70/32.png) [@Fugazi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fugazi)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2019, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-any-sane-person-want-to-be-the-next-potus/841322/35 "2019-10-06T20:34:48Z")
Also keep in mind that indications show we may be headed for a recession. If the economy tanks, we are fucked. The tools used by the government to fight a recession are usually to cut interest rates, and/or deficit spend to boost the economy. But what are you going to do when interest rates are already low and we’re all ready running trillion dollar deficits. You’ll probably spend the 4 years being hated by almost everyone for not being able to fix the unfixable. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2019, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-any-sane-person-want-to-be-the-next-potus/841322/36 "2019-10-06T22:21:16Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > No matter how smart you are, and how well-informed you are, and how great you are at picking advisors: you are almost certainly going to get something wrong. > > And people are going to die, because you got it wrong. > > Sometimes people are going to die because of what you decided, even if you got it right. > > And in some cases, it may not be possible to know for years – or ever – whether they died because you got it right, or because you got it wrong. For a President, hubris isn’t a flaw - it’s a prerequisite. Even the very best Presidents had a massive ego and an ironclad belief in their own abilities, because otherwise they’d be paralyzed. That’s why, if I were that kind of person, I’d \*relish \*serving after Trump. The greater the crisis, the greater the glory. No. 46 will have a shot at being the next FDR. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2019, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-any-sane-person-want-to-be-the-next-potus/841322/37 "2019-10-06T22:31:15Z")
I’d think looking at the “before” and “after” pictures of the “winners” would dissuade anyone because why’d you want a job where physically you age that fast in it? ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2019, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-any-sane-person-want-to-be-the-next-potus/841322/38 "2019-10-07T03:36:18Z")
I remember how happy Jimmy Carter looked going being elected in 1980 then look at him just 4 years later with the Iran crisis. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2019, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-any-sane-person-want-to-be-the-next-potus/841322/39 "2019-10-07T06:44:39Z")
I don’t think I’m qualified for the office of president, but if the World Dictator position opens, I’m available. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2019, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-any-sane-person-want-to-be-the-next-potus/841322/40 "2019-10-07T06:50:56Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > I don’t think I’m qualified for the office of president, but if the World Dictator position opens, I’m available. You’ve got it! Now fix global warming before it’s too late. Maybe your [del]survivor[/del] successor will manage that [del]when[/del] if you fail. But have an exit strategy ready. 🆒 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-any-sane-person-want-to-be-the-next-potus/841322.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-any-sane-person-want-to-be-the-next-potus/841322.md?page=3)