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Being President


Candidates are rounding into form ahead of the 2016 election – some are showing their sensibilities, 
others are pulling out of the race. One question remains for all of them: Why in the world would you – or anyone else – want to be President of the USA?

Simply by being elected, you’re guaranteeing that an entire political party will dislike you on general
principal, and that’s not including independent voters and voters who would’ve preferred someone else from their own party. In fact, 1824 was the last time a president garnered more than 65% of the popular vote, and only about a half-dozen since then have cleared 55%.

Simply stated, you’re lucky if 50% of the population actually wants you to be president.

Beyond being generally disliked, let’s think about what a president can accomplish in the four years
they’ll be in office. Let’s keep thinking about that…

If Donald Trump is elected, he will not be able to garner the votes, pass legislation, produce a
construction contract, and fully build a wall across the entire US/Mexico in just four years. Similarly, if Clinton or Sanders are elected, they will not be able to make sure that college loans are forgiven or that college becomes free within the four years that their presidency will be assured.

Perhaps the only thing a president actually can achieve during four years is to start a war. Beyond that, there’s not much.

The focal points of President Obama’s 2008 campaign included withdrawing troops from the middle east and universal healthcare. Seven years later we have plenty of troops overseas and we most certainly do not have universal healthcare. What’s amazing is that Obama actually did more than could have been reasonably expected in regards to offering healthcare to more people, but it’s considerably less than his original intention. And he’s had eight years instead of four.

If you think about the legacy of presidents in the past 30-40 years, they exist in two camps: Wars and
economic strength. Gulf Wars, economic boom of 90s, War on Drugs, recession…are we missing
anything? For senior citizens, more information will stand out, but the younger generation has been fed only those main points.

So the question remains: Why would anyone want to be the President of the United States? You can’t get anything accomplished, you won’t get people to like you until you’re out of office (see: Bush, George W. and his paintings), and you only make about $400,000 per year of presidency.

What’s that? Bill Clinton made over $100 million from speaking engagements in the 11 years after he left office? Just for talking to people on random occasions?

Right, OK. I guess it’s not the worst job in the world.

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