Why I don't want to be President

If you ask me, Presidents are the objects of too much criticism. It seems like somebody is always picking on them. They’re the objects of late night comedy show humor and Saturday Night Live sketches. Comes with the territory, they say.

All well and good when done in fun, but I think our presidents are unfairly ridiculed and dished upon too often. After all, they occupy the office representing the highest level of respect in our nation, if not the civilized universe.

A president can’t utter a syllable without some hot-shot analyst berating him, questioning his intelligence, and proposing he be thrown out of the Oval office. I’m all for critical analysis, but I think most of that stuff is just piling on after the whistle has blown.

Take, for example, the President’s remarks I read about on a recent family trip. Poor guy did everybody a favor by keeping his comments short and sweet, but apparently, the crowd was settled in for the long haul and wanted something with a little more substance.

Of course the media jumped all over the opportunity to deride the President. Said one local newspaper- “We pass over the silly remarks of the President; for the credit of the nation we are willing that the veil of oblivion shall be dropped over them and that they shall no more be repeated or thought of.” I’m not good at big words, but I don’t think they were impressed with the President’s comments.

A Chicago newspaper said, “The cheeks of every American must tingle with shame as he reads the silly, flat, and dishwatery remarks of the man who has to be pointed out as the President of the United States.” Ouch. Even a London newspaper (London is not in America by the way) pointed out “Anything more dull or commonplace it would not be easy to produce.”

I think it must be tough to be President of the United States, especially during a war. And even more so if the majority of Americans believe that the President is the one who started the war. And if victory comes slowly or at too great a price, a President can watch his approval ratings go down the tube like bathwater draining from a tub.

After reading the Presidential remarks mentioned above, I also noticed the President took the criticism to heart and inaccurately predicted afterwards, “It seems exceedingly probable that this Administration will not be re-elected.”

I don’t think I would ever want to be President. It seems to me that no matter what you do while president, somebody gets irritated and calls you mean names. Only years after your presidency- and possibly your death- will historians look back and decide once and for all whether or not you were worth a hoot.

These were the thoughts turning laps in my mind as I read and reread the President’s remarks on my recent family trip. And I came to a conclusion. I like the guy and his little speech. And so does my wife. She read it out loud to our kids.

You’ve figured out by now that he’s President Abraham Lincoln and his Gettysburg Address will rightfully go down as one of the greatest speeches ever delivered, regardless of what the critics of his day said.