Q: John Kerry has wanted to be president since an early age- Good or Bad?-

[NewYorkerfromMass]

As an arguement in the affirmative- look no further than the last man who harbored such an early ambition: Bill Clinton. In fact, Al Gore also had very early ideas about his ultimate goal, (and as we all know- he won!)
So I posit that this is a very good attribute for any President to have, for it means: (and I can say this with nearly 100% confidence) that the candidate will have thoroughly studied previous presidents and administrations, will intimately know history, and will have essentially spent their entire adult life preparing for the ultimate job.

So- is this good or bad? and of the other 9 candidates, who else can make this claim?

[youngred]

1. I would say its a good thing

but then that's always been my ambition as well so I might be biased

[Girlfriday]

2. I concur

Bill always wanted to be President and I think he'll go down as one of the best....just my opinion.

[eileen from OH]

3. I'm not a particular Kerry supporter. . .

in that he ain' my number one but if he were the nominee, I'd vote for him in heartbeat.

That being said, the fact that he has aspired to the Presidency for a long time. .. well, this I think is a GOOD thing. The ol' "fire in the belly" thing. The only way it will hurt him, as a candidate, is if it's seen that his positions (especially the Iraq vote) are interpreted as a vote of political expediency, rather than a vote of conscience and conviction. On that, only time and the voters will tell.

eileen from OH

[quinnox]

4. Neutral

I don't feel this is a plus or minus.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

9. But it distinguishes with regards to motivation

I feel it is impossible for this to be a neutral characteristic. When applying for jobs (or interviewing prospects from the other side of the table), I personally have always felt that genuine interest in the position being sought was a PLUS. It usually indicates a desire to do well and attain achievement beyond the mere fact of collecting a paycheck.

[ComerPerro]

5. I think your point is, how can it be bad

And I would have to agree. Its a good sign on Kerry's part.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

7. Here's what the negativists say:

"It shows blind ambition"..."Everything is political calculation"....."He's all ego"
And Gore was of course derided by many as "the man groomed to be President" and a "phony" :shrug:

But I like very much your very succinct conclusion: "How can this be bad?" :thumbsup:

[ComerPerro]

8. Kerry is in two different places on my list

On flat out support, who I would like to see, he is around number six or so.

As far as who I think is our best shot, I would say a three or four.

[madmax]

6. At least he had and has ambition

smirk aspired to be a cheerleader. :eyes:

[NewYorkerfromMass]

10. EXACTLY! the guy who wakes up one day and decides

what he wants to do is major league scary!!!
and speaking of Cheerleaders.....

[CMT]

11. Good

You have to be a bit ambitious and a fighter to get to be president.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

12. Not many replies- I was too uncontroversial

I should have pointed out that this is yet another thing makes him a better choice than Dean, or any of the others. :evilgrin:

[StopTheMorans]

15. uh-oh, you said it, here come your flames

if you wouldn't have said the last thing, I would have said it doesn't matter one way or the other. BUT, now that you said it, I will proceed to tell why it is a bad thing in Kerry's case.

If you haven't lived your whole life saying "I'm going to be president someday", then your actions speak for themselves, i.e. you live your life based on your convictions and not how you think you should live your life as a person who will someday be president (Dean). However, if you spend your whole life thinking "someday I will run for president", then you stick your finger in the wind at every turn, and make decisions that betray your convictions simply because you feel it will win you more votes (insert Kerry's votes/quotes here). Sorry, you asked for a flaming, and you got it:)

[NewYorkerfromMass]

17. O.K. So Clinton, Gore, and Kerry are ALL phonies

assuming you really believe what you wrote. :eyes:

[StopTheMorans]

18. as I was careful to say

"In Kerry's case". I don't feel that it matters one way or another, I was merely applying your question to the current situation and using it to refute your attack on Dean et al. I did not say it was useful in every situation. In some cases, it may drive a person to live a very productive and honorable life (i.e. a life that would be suitable to the president of the USA). In other cases, it could drive a man (Kerry is the only one I am speaking about here) to make decisions based on political expedience and the hope for more votes rather than convictions. Stop trying to twist my words. You asked for flaming, you deserved it, and you got it.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

19. You want Scalia to write your attack for you?

"doesn't apply to all cases- just this one". :eyes:

Oh and just for the record: If I were to rate the candidates on courage of conviction and length of record, Kerry, Kucinich, Graham, and Sharpton would be at the top, and Dean would be far behind. Of course, that's why Dean needs to 'make all the noise'..right? He's got a lot of catching up to do.

[StopTheMorans]

21. come on now, you're taking my words out of context AGAIN

are you being advised by Rove?:) Seriously, stop doing that. You inferred from one statement that I made naming KERRY that I was saying all people who ever wanted to be president ever have done things that Kerry has done while pursuing the presidency. That's why I limited it to him. Do all people who have ever wanted to run for president their whole lives do exactly the same things? Do they look exactly the same, have exactly the same positions, the same dreams, etc...? DO you see how absurd you are being now? I can only attribute Kerry's actions to Kerry, and as such, it is ridiculous to take a statement specific to Kerry's actions in this campaign and extrapolate it to other Dems. who have ran in recent years. Stop being sensationalist and avoiding my critiques, and start adding a little substance, it helps:) As for your rating of the candidates' conviction, I agree with all of them if you merely remove Kerry's name from the top (Dean would be somewhere in there, Kucinich is definitely up there).

[alfredo]

13. Wanting to be president is much better than wanting to be the

dictator.

throw the Fascist out!!!!

[NewYorkerfromMass]

16. I think my point is that emerging from a drunken stupor at age 40

and deciding that one wants to be president can hardly be compared to the one who made the decision many years earlier and at a much more youthful age and therefore has been able to build a light years more formidable body of knowledge as to what the task entails.

[ShaneGR]

14. No problem with that at all....

Don't we want all our children to dream of being President?

[gully]

20. neutral...it's neither good or bad.

:shrug: