Who In Their Right Mind Would Want to Be President of the United States

The citizens of the United States just elected a new leader – the president. As always, the two year campaign to become president was interesting to watch no matter which person you favored in the election. As has been the case for the last thirty years or so, I had the same thought. Who in their right mind would want to be the president of the United States?

Every president that we have had over those thirty years has been the object of severe attacks from the opposition party. Often, the attacks were unfounded or over exaggerated. The president’s family, who really did not run for anything, was often another source of attack. Any person or any object was fair game. The media simply played into this scenario, often being the source of the attacks. Reality or facts had nothing to do with baseless accusations.

It has gotten so bad that before a president can explain a new proposed program, the opposing party and politicians attack it as baseless, cruel and just plain wrong. The morals or ethics of the presidents are called into question. Indeed, it is now common for the opposition to claim a secret, and often malicious, motive even when there are no facts to support the alleged motive. Presidents are commonly accused of out and out lying to the citizens.

No president since JFK has escaped such hostility and attacks while they were in office. Under such circumstances, one does have to sometimes wonder why in the world anyone would want to be president of the United States. This brought to my mind another lesson from The Leadership Teachings of Geronimo, published by SterlingHouse. Teaching #17, You Have To Want To Be a Chief, addresses this very issue. It also addresses the potential danger in following people who want to the leader. Here is what part of the teaching says.

Geronimo was an ambitious man who wanted to be viewed as a fierce, competent warrior who could save the traditional Apache way of life …

Teaching

Ambition can be a positive, driving force that empowers you to achieve beyond your normal capability. It compels you to go the extra mile, to do more than is expected, to help where others do not, and to set loftier and loftier goals for yourself and your organization. If left unchecked, however, ambition can be harmful. You must know what your key values are and then hold true to those values. ….

Regardless of the verbal, psychological, ethical and physical attacks on presidents and presidents wannabes, we seem to have no lack of people who have the ambition, drive, energy and desire to be president. Certainly, people are not going to become president unless they want to be the leader. That is the first prerequisite to becoming president. The faint-hearted need not apply or wait to be drafted. Let us hope that such men and women use their ambition properly and wisely.