Disclaimer: I really do not intend either this diary or any comments it may prompt, to descend into another Obama Cream Pie fight. Can we play nice and maybe, just maybe, have a thoughtful discussion for a change?
There's an old episode of The West Wing in which the presumptive Republican challenger to President Bartlet gets asked "The Question" -- "Why do you want to be President?" and is reported to have stumbled over his answer, to ensuing hilarity and celebration in the White House -- that is, until they realize that Bartlet has no answer to The Question either. (His reply, when asked by his staff: "I don't.") If I recall correctly, The Question never does get answered in that episode.
So, we have a very small field of declared 2008 Presidential candidates on the Democratic side, to wit, Tom Vilsack.
We have Hillary Clinton who's openly gearing up for a run.
We have Barack Obama who's almost certainly gearing up for a run.
We have John Edwards, who is apparently at least thinking about it.
We have Al Gore, who is conspicuously silent on the subject.
We have Wes Clark, whose name gets mentioned frequently, but about whom I have no clue (as far as his Presidential aspirations are concerned).
We have some governors whose names get tossed into the mix occasionally, most notably Bill Richardson and Kathleen Sibelius.
Why do -- or why would -- each of these people want to be President?
I would dearly love the opportunity to ask each of these people that question, and get a truly honest answer from them.
Why would anyone want to be President, the little snarky voice in the back of my head says. Good freakin' question. What is our next President going to inherit? A crippling, downright incomprehensible national debt; a Constitution and a Bill of Rights that have been flung down and danced upon by the current Administration; a Supreme Court that is teetering on the brink of a level of wingnuttery that boggles the mind; an imploding Middle East (thanks in large part to the current Administration); a country that has probably never been more hated outside its borders than it is now (again, thanks to our current Administration); climate change of potentially catastrophic proportions and an impending energy crisis; an imploding national [lack of] health care system... and I could go on and on and on.
Why would they want to be President?
Personal ambition? Thirst for power?
A commitment to imposing/holding the country under the rule of a particular ideology?
What are the other possible reasons?
Patriotism and a desire to serve, even in the face of what can only be a very difficult job for anyone who geniunely wants to tackle it?
This last is the answer I would like to hear, of course, but sadly, if I heard it from pretty much any candidate out there (with the possible exception of Al Gore, who genuinely seems to appreciate what he'd be up against if he took it on), I'd take it with a grain of salt.
Actually, the real answer I'd like to hear is, as with the fictional President Bartlet: "I don't. But this country desperately needs what I have to offer it, and so I must try."
Why, other than personal political ambition, would any of them want to be President?
I'd really like to know.