This interview conducted by Katie Couric is for the latest installment of “Primary Questions: Character, Leadership & The Candidates.” She asks this question to John Edwards, Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John McCain.
Katie Couric asked: “What is the most disillusioning part of running for president?”
US Democratic hopeful John Edwards answered: “It’s extraordinarily hard … for the American people to hear in real substance what you want to do as president – and to understand it. Because what tends to happen is these presidential races become superficial glitz, glamour contests, you know. Who’s getting the most attention at some point in time. Basically I think what happens is a storyline gets developed very quickly and the media hops on that storyline, and that drives the national news for periods of time. And … whether it’s reality or not, it still drives the national news. That’s what people hear. And they don’t see the long-term picture.”
To John Edwards, the disillusioning part would be the glitz and glamour over substance.
US Republican hopeful Rudy Giuliani answered: “How hard it is to stay on the substance, because that is what I believe most of us who do this, whether we’re Republicans or Democrats, enjoy the most. It’s the solving of problems. What are we going to do about the budget? What are we going to do about Iraq? Iran? How are we going to deal with Afghanistan and Pakistan? The substantive part of this is why we’re all involved in it and you don’t get to discuss it that much. And when you do, you’re basically told, you know, stop it and put that in a sound bite right?”
To Giuliani, the disillusioning part would be not being able to discuss the substantive parts much.
US Republican hopeful Mike Huckabee answered: “The pettiness; the sheer pettiness in which people want to parse every syllable. And they want to take everything you say in jest as some serious remark you have made. The loss of sense of humor. I’m not going to give up on being a human being. I don’t want to be robotic. If you want a vending machine, vote for one. I’m not. I’m not going to be one. And I’ve just had to decide early on in this election that I’m going to be who I am; say what I want to say. Sometimes I may have to apologize for some of the stuff because I’m going to say what I think at that moment … but I’m not going to go around and have a committee first approve everything that I say before I say it.”
To Huckabee, it would be the pettiness and lack of humor.
US Democratic hopeful Hillary Clinton answered: “You know, there’s so much emphasis on who’s up, who is down and what they said, how they’re combating this or that with each other. We’re always interested in the minutia or details behind the scenes. I hope the press, the pundits, all of the commentators listen to what people are asking us. I’m asked "how are we going to get health care for people who need it?" I’m asked about the real-world issues. That’s been my experience for 16 years.”
To Clinton, it would be emphasis on who is up and who is down.
US Democratic hopeful Barack Obama answered: “Once you start running for United States Senate or a big national office, I think you start getting a sense of, you know, the less attractive aspects of running, particularly fundraising, you know, dialing for dollars and asking strangers for money. That is the least attractive aspect of it and the one I’d like to change the most. I have to spend quite a bit of time going to fund raisers and eating chicken dinners. And some of that time I would rather be spending talking to workers or, you know, studying the latest policy ideas that would make a difference in the lives of ordinary people.”
To Obama, it’s the less attractive aspects of running such as fundraising.
US Republican hopeful John McCain answered: “I know the ups and downs. I know what you have to do. I know about the long days. Nobody forces you to do it. The only thing that maybe disappoints me, to be honest with you, is some people who you think are going to support you end up supporting someone else. The key is to maintain a very steady, as much as possible, emotional outlook so that when things go good, you don’t get excited and when things go bad, you don’t get too depressed. But look, I am a guy that stood fifth from the bottom of his class in the Naval Academy. If my old company officer were here, he’d say "in America, anything is possible."
To McCain, it’s the people you think will support you and end up supporting another candidate.
While the candidates have completely different answers for that one specific question, they all have one thing in common, each of these top candidates have at least one or two disillusionments about running for United States President.