What kind of man (I know I should say person, but I’ve never gotten comfortable with the awkwardness of gender-neutral pronouns) sets his sights on becoming President of the United States, as a teenager, and remains committed to that goal throughout his adult life? Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and John Kerry are such men. John Kerry filmed reenactments of himself being a hero in Vietnam. He volunteered for Vietnam even though he was against the war. He was thinking about the presidency. Clinton and Gore both calculated every move all their lives with the white house in mind. I suppose it’s laudable, in a strange kind of way. I have a difficult time identifying with it. As teenagers and young men, they could not possibly have had any kind of fully-formed vision of how and where to lead America. It’s not about that. It’s about what is to me almost unimaginable ambition and will.
I suppose it makes sense that these are the kind of people who wind up becoming the most powerful man or woman (see what I mean?) in the world. Not always though. George Bush spent his youth doing everything possible to avoid becoming President. His ambition and will only kicked in when he reached middle age. This is a psychology I can understand. My impression is that John Edwards and Joe Lieberman, although both ambitious men, also did not imagine the possibility of being the President, until later in life. It might be interesting to separate past Presidents into these two groups, and see which ones did a better job.
My daughter always knew what she wanted to do. She wanted to be a veterinarian, and now she is. Although I’m not one of them, I realize there are people like that. Maybe it’s no different than that. Some people want to be veterinarians. Some want to be the President of the United States. I don’t know. I don’t think it’s the same. There’s something scary about it.