There is an old joke/maxim that anybody who wants to be President isn’t wualified. The rationale being that anybody who wants to be PResident has too much ego and is not motivated by the right things to be a good President. I don’t know if this is true or not, but what I want to know is: Would you want to be President? I don’t mean like, “If you were President for a day…”. I mean if the polls closed and somehow you were elected. Would you want it?
I don’t think it is a job I would ever want to have. It just is not in my personality to sacrifice that much of my personal life for work in general. Also, I don’t really like attention or the idea of being a celebrity, having my daily life scrutinized etc. I also wouldn’t handle my mistakes well.
I mean of course if I was President I would be able to make everything better for everyone everywhere all the time. But why bother?
Not only no, but hell no. I’ve always thought that the Presidency should be viewed as an obligation, not as an aspiration. It seems to me that the very last person to be elected should be the candidate who’s actively seeking that election- 'cause odds are, he’s doing it for the wrong reason. Power corrupts, and all that.
I would never run for the presidency simply because I know that I wouldn’t do a good job- and I’d be afraid that eventually I’d want the position to serve me, rather than the other way around.
Never - I’d be glad to have a voice in policy, because I think I could do some real good. But I don’t know if I could live with the Commander-in-Chief side of things. So far as I know, every President has made decisions that sent soldiers to their deaths. That’s not meant as an insult - military decision-making is part of the Presidency, and any good-sized military action is going to get some American soldiers killed. But I don’t think I could stomach it, and I don’t think I could stomach myself if I could.
On the other hand, I’d take a Senate seat faster than you can say “gerrymander”. Except that Washingtonians don’t get Senate seats. Darnit.
I’d love to be president. And I think the country would be better off with a leader who made no bones about the fact that he was evil and intended to rule the country with a crushing iron hand and to leave office only when overthrown or assassinated.
Oh hell yes! I’d bomb countries with hard to pronounce names, I’d encourage civil war in places that don’t have nice resorts, I’d set up stings to catch or embarrass lobbyists just for fun. Then on day two I’d attack the Vatican…
I’m living proof that someone who wants the job isn’t wualified.
I don’t necessarily want to be President just the person who’s pulling all the strings behind the scenes. The only reason I even want that much is because when I’m unhappy with the way our government is going, I hate feeling that there’s not much I can do about it that I don’t already do (campaigning and such).
I’d take the gig. Would prolly do a damn fine job of it, too. But I doubt the country is ready to elect a President that calls his opponent a fuckwit during the debates…
Why yes, actually, I would. I think I have some very good, if liberal, ideas for leading this country. The first thing I would do is institute two years of compulsory civil service for everyone, to begin on the day after their 18th birthday or after graduation from high school, whichever is last, with a priority given to military service, but options for peaceful service as well. I realize the Amish, Jehova Witnesses and others would have a problem with it, but they would be led off in chains and imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay until they changed their minds – and they’d still have to do the civil service.
Fortunately for this country, however, atheists can never be elected president of the United States, so my other ideas having to do with requiring anyone who ever bought an Ann Coulter book to be sterilized will never see the light of day.
Firstly, I’d never subject myself or my family to the process of running for President.
Secondly, getting things done requires contacts - a huge network of contacts. You have to know the right person to make things happen, and I simply don’t have the contact web.
I would love the opportunity to fix broken policies, laws, and budgets, but the President has far less influence on much of that than people think.
How is this a liberal idea? Nobody gets to go to college for two years after they finish high school? Do you have any idea what this would do to the admissions process, to say nothing of education as a whole?
I hate giving speeches and it looks like someone makes you. I don’t know what happens if you just refused to give a State of the Union Address and just surfed the SDMB all night but I would find out.
Like some others, I would make an effective puppeteer behind the scenes but it may not be good for everybody else. I am easily corruptible by power and unapologetic for it. I am like GW in a way as well. I don’t like to negotiate and I don’t work well in committees. I have to admire him because he just went ahead and devasted Iraq just because he really wanted to. He even convinced tons of other people that they believed it was a good idea at the time and that they had some input into the decision. Nope, Iraq was going to get blowed-up one way or another. I don’t know what country(s) or state(s) I would pick but it is certainly premature to rule out nuclear intervention as a preventative measure of some sort.
The only reason I even want that much is because when I’m unhappy with the way our government is going, I hate feeling that there’s not much I can do about it that I don’t already do (campaigning and such).