I've been wondering why Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has been so uncomfortable with impeachment. It feels like there is more going on than just political strategy. When I see her talk about impeachment being off the table -- it seems like she, on a personal level, feels scared of impeachment.
I've been wondering why. An idea just struck me ....
Nancy Pelosi is a bright woman, and I imagine, she certainly must have considered the fact that if Bush and Cheney were both removed from office, she would become President of the United States.
For some reason, this causes her fear. Maybe she is afraid that if she pushed for impeachment, people will accuse her of being in it only for her own gain, and thus, maybe she fears it will undermine her reputation and hence her political influence.
But then, there is more too. I think she is afraid of becoming President. I think, for some reason, she is trying to avoid the potential of being in a situation in which she would become President of the United States. Kinda odd, given how many hours and millions of dollars other people are spending trying to become President.
I wonder why she doesn't want to. Maybe she is having the same problem that I believe Al Gore is having. If you know what is really going on, and you are paying attention to what is happening in the real world (rather than only the "insider baseball" campaign coverage), then it would become clear that the job of being the next President of the United States -- the job of being the President who comes after this one -- that is not going to be exactly just a fun job. It is going to be a really hard job. In which one can accomplish incredible things. But not a walk in the park.
Part of why I have hope for our future is because there are as many solutions as there are problems, and solving our crises will be possible, in part because there are many cases where one solution impacts multiple problems.
For example: locally produced, clean, renewable alternative energy, along with conservation techniques, will help reduce war, pollution, deficits, global warming, and unemployment simultaneously. But implementing all of the solutions, while also having to clean up the internal functions of the government, and making the agencies function who do this work -- this is going to be a serious job, and a lot of work. The next President can't just fly around for photo-ops, and, more charitably, can't just focus their serious work efforts on the issues which they are most passionate about. They will need to spend a bunch of time cleaning up the muck. But somebody's gotta do it.
I wonder how much the candidates themselves feel this way. For some people, I suspect that feeling this way is what prevents them from wanting to be President.