“Worth The Fighting For” - “I wanted to be President because it had become my ambition to be President.”
by Election Night HQ’s Publisher
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This post is one of a series of observations on Senator McCain, in his own words:
Worth the Fighting For, p. 374, by Senator McCain and Mark Salter:
I didn’t decide to run for President to start a national crusade for the political reforms I believed in or to run a campaign as if it were some grand act of patriotism. In truth, I wanted to be President because it had become my ambition to be President.
It would be really refreshing if other political aspirants would simply say this, when they launch their campaigns. The term “public service” is often bandied about, freely, when political candidates discuss the offices to which they seek. But the problem lies in the fact that:
Serving in high political office, and thus attaining power, fame, and (often) wealth,
is not the sort of altruistic activity, that could be accurately described as “serving the public”. At least, in any sense, that I understand that term. It might be the case, if wielding high political power was such an onerous burden, that it was difficult to find people willing to undertake it. But I think we’d all agree that isn’t the case, except in the instances of some local offices, where the hassle of holding the office might actually outweigh the benefits.
But the Presidency? The U.S. Senate? The U.S. House? There’s no shortage of people who want to serve in them. There are (depending on how it’s defined) 16 candidates, running in both parties for President. (And I name just those, whom the media and the pundits and us bloggers, deem sufficiently noteworthy.) The field would be even larger, except for the fact that for most politicians, they don’t have the fundraising capacity, the temperament, the charisma, the geographical base, or the political support, in order to make a viable presidential run.
Accordingly, this statement by Senator McCain, about the reason why he sought the presidency in 2000, is one of the most refreshing things that I’ve ever read, throughout all of what I’ve encountered in writing about politics. (Presumably, his decision to run in this cycle, is also not due to a desire for a grand act of patriotism, or to crusade for reforms, either.)
It is a difficult balancing act, to be sure. It goes all the way back to the first president, George Washington. He was one of our rare Presidents, who genuinely didn’t want to be President. He would have vastly preferred to have gone back to Mount Vernon, and not be saddled with the grave task of shepherding a new nation taking its first tentative steps on the world stage. But he felt a sense of obligation to the nation to do so. In his case, it really was a grand act of patriotism. So off he went, to serve for eight years.
In his case, it was an act of authentic public service. But even our other great Presidents - Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln - they very much wanted to be President. Their presidencies were not accidents, or the result of enlightened party leaders, carefully weighing the merits of various officeholders and eventually settling on a consensus choice. They were the result of careful planning and assiduous courtship of the elements needed to attain the White House, during the various eras in which they lived.
Obviously, given the luminaries whom I have just described, lusting after high political office is not an obstacle to successful and noble service once it’s obtained. Accordingly, Senator McCain’s unvarnished ambition to be President won’t be an obstacle to his potential achievements in the White House. Getting him there - that’s the hard part.
You can contact Election Night HQ at publisher@electionnighthq.com.