Professor Bainbridge...on law, politics, religion, culture & food

The Mentality of Presidential Wannabes

A post of mine on candidates with issues prompted Steven Taylor:

… to wonder about the mental state of anyone who runs for the presidency of the United States.

Consider what it means to run for the presidency. One has to have an enormous ego. One has to be willing to listen to oneself say the say the same things over and over and over again or a daily (if not hourly) basis. 2 One has to be willing to endure inane event after inane event (think pancake flipping and diner hopping). One has to be willing to use stupid arguments and simplistic slogans (that one knows are stupid and simplistic, but can’t admit it) against one’s opponents over and over and over again in the quest for votes. One has to expose oneself (and one’s family and associates) to a great deal of scrutiny, often of the mist humiliating type. Indeed, there is a great deal of self-humiliation that one is required to engage in to run for the presidency.

Beyond that, one has to go through an ever-lengthening, physically grinding process which requires a great deal of time to pursue that means little leisure time and limited contact with family and friends. The campaigning itself is not productive work (i.e., in and of itself it produced nothing tangible), but rather is a tedious means to an end.

As such, forget what specific “issues” a given candidate might have–what does it say about a person in general that they are willing to run for the office in the first place?

Additional thoughts follow. Go read the whole thing.