No one who hasn’t done the job has the slightest idea of the grief and evil that comes with it, under the obvious public perks. You will have to make decisions that will result in the death of people, including ours. Goes with the territory. You will have to put the welfare of the US above the lives of peoples elsewhere. To be a Statesman requires an absence of conscience that’s hard to understand, or even imagine. So maybe it’s not a whole lot of fun. For instance-
I’ve got solid memories of every president since Kennedy. Kennedy, obviously, got out of the job early without the chance to engage in a lot of self doubt. Every other president- and I mean it- every other president- aged substantially and significantly more than their chronological time in office. Obama looked like an old man, and he’s relatively young. Hell, even Eisenhauer looked worn out, and he had run WWII. Not a good time at all. And whomsoever shall stand will be held responsible for a whole lot of things no one can do much of anything about- you know, the whole tropical Minnesota concept, peak oil, the next pandemic, the income inequality apocalypse? This may be the worst time to become president of the United States since Abraham Lincoln stepped up to the plate. No disrespect to either side of the isle, but I don’t see any men or women of Abe’s calibre anywhere in any direction. Who wants to be king as the kingdom burns? Oh! wait- I know! A giant orange banana slug!