POTUS should operate under exactly the same set of moral principles as an normal citizen

[Bonobo]

I am intentionally keeping the statement simple. Let's see how this goes.

[panader0]

1. If I don't behave

Jeannie will cut me off. (figuratively) So I behave. So much for my moral principles.
Seriously, I would have to say--all of the above. I don't think Barack can do what he really wants to. There are too many unknown influences. I am a pacifist, and abhor the wars, so I am disappointed at the direction Obama is leading us in right now, but I haven't given up on him.

[GodlessBiker]

2. "When the President does it, it's not a crime." Tricky Dick.

:sarcasm:

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

3. Other: I think Mike Tyson said it best.

Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face. I feel the same way about principles.

[redqueen]

5. LOL

That's great... thanks, hadn't seen it before. :)

[Skidmore]

4. Which citizen's moral principles are you referring to?

I doubt you could find one set or moral principles you could state as "normal."

[dmallind]

6. I voted other - and will explain

Moral principles are a guidance system to determine the best choice from the less good, but nobody - and I mean nobody - actually makes moral decisions in absolute adherence to any deontology. Some people decry "situational ethics" but we all apply them. There is nobody who has never lied, often with good intentions and even with good results ("No, Herr Hauptmann, I have no idea where the Jews are hiding" would be an easy if extreme example - on a more mundane level "no your butt doesn't look fat in those jeans"). There are few people who think lying is a morally good choice in general.

So do I expect Obama to have a set of principles about what is good and bad consistent with hoi polloi? Yes. That tells him what outcome he should seek, and that he should do the greatest good for the greatest number.

But I also know damn well he has a role where he has to lie more than most of us - and definitely where he has to keep secrets more. he has a role where he MUST be willing to do, or at least command, things few of us would ever do or deem morally good choices in most circumstances. He has to be willing to see people die (to save more lives in the end), or lose their jobs (so that others can be gained), on his say so for example. Very few of us will ever have to do the first, and not a huge number of us even the second.

So what he has to do WITH those principles, and what harm he has to accept to increase overall benefit, is far more substantial and far more wrenching than a normal citizen - and he has to be able to do that. The idea that Obama (or anyone really - just writ large for him) can avoid ever causing any harm is painfully naive.

[cali]

7. lol. as if all the "normal citizens"- whoever the fuck they are- all share

the same moral principles.

pointless poll, as far as I can see.

[dmallind]

10. Mostly they do

Principles are not actions, nor are they instructions, merely a system of how we measure good and bad and know which is which. Societies develop shared mores that are inculcated both intentionally and subconsciously in new members. We learn on mom's knee that lying is bad and stealing is bad and hurting people is bad, and these things are reinforced in daily interactions. Many people still lie and steal and cheat of course, but the vast majority know it is still "bad" and yet rationalize their need or desire to do it. Only in very rare cases of true psychological pathology will you come across somebody who thinks it is a good and beneficial thing to steal or kill. Obviously the calculus comes in when you can create benefit - genuine benefit not just rationalizing excuses - by doing "bad" things.

Since normal does not mean universal but only typical and customary, it is a perfectly valid thing to say normal citizens share a very very close set of principles determining what is good and bad.

[stray cat]

8. so he should fly in coach?

[dmallind]

9. that's immoral for anyone over 5'3" and 130lbs. NT