What happens to candidates when they become presidents? One can only imagine the DNA alteration as a result of the shock! Have you ever thought what it would be like to actually WIN the American presidency and suddenly find out that you’re surrounded by the Secret Service because you are now the MOST POWERFUL PERSON IN THE WORLD? Some things are beyond imagining.

What compels a man or Hillary Clinton to run for the presidency? This question has been argued for the two hundred plus years since the formation of the Republic. Is it ego? Yes. Is it lust for power? Certainly.  Is it balls, or in the case of Clinton, eggs? Surely. Is it love of country? Not like it used to be. Is it heart for ones fellow men and women and righting the human condition? Well, it probably starts out that way.

But then there comes that extraordinary move to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the use of Air Force One, the chefs, the butlers, the pomp, the circumstance. Suddenly, the new president discovers he is no longer ordinary people. George W. Bush said it best in his simple prose: “I’m the decider.” Heady stuff as President Truman came to understand and remind himself with the plaque that set on his desk that stated absolutely: “The buck stops here.”

Presidents come from all backgrounds. John Kennedy came from a rich and powerful family, so did The Two Georges, H.W. and W. Clinton, as of Bill, came from near poverty; Jimmy Carter was the son of a peanut farmer. Sometimes they are tall, sometimes short. Regardless of their financial stature or height, the day they become the President, they become the biggest men in the world.

Barack Obama, as most presidents do, brought big dreams to the Oval Office.  During the long and arduous primary he spoke of his large dreams. Health care reform was high on his list, as it has been on most Democratic leader’s lists for nearly 70 years.

But health care reform, really, is not about the little guy, the uninsured. If that were true, the President would be fighting for a single payer system. What he is fighting for is the Federal Treasury, which is why what we’ll end up with at the end of the day is insurance reform, not health care reform. The Republicans are right in one sense. Tort reform, more than insurance reform, would help the sick system right itself in short measure. But since the Lawyer’s lobby likes to give lots of money to the Democratic Party’s candidates, that’s not likely to happen in any large way anytime soon.

But this isn’t about health care legislation or tort reform, or immoral insurance companies. This is about the American presidency and its sink into the moral abyss that is now the American way.

For the best example, I give you TARP (Troubles Asset Relief Program), that lovely piece of legislation that allows the U.S. Treasury to purchase troubled assets from banks and other financial institutions with taxpayer’s money. It was instituted to save the American financial system, and was supposed to help us all, or so said our big president. So far, it seems only to have helped Wall Street.

For proof, I give you headlines from various new sites on October 8, 2009:

1.     ‘Elizabeth Warren: The Middle Class is Under Assault’

2.     ‘Mr. Secretary: Wall Street on Line One’

3.     ‘New Derivatives Law Will Exempt MOST Financial Firms’

4.    ‘ U.S. Sellers Still Slashing Home Prices’

5.      ‘Roubini: Housing Market Hasn’t Bottomed Yet’

6.     ‘Loving Couple Forced to Divorce to Save Money’

7.    ‘With the Return of “Junk Fees” Mortgage Lenders Are Raking in Profits’  

8.     ‘34 Banks Don’t Pay Their Quarterly TARP Dividends’

9.    ‘Wells Fargo Jacks Up Credit Card Rates Before New Law Goes Into Effect’

10.  ‘Pay Czar Approves $10.5 Million Pay Package For New AIG CEO’

11.  ‘Geithner’s Wall Street Confidents’

12.  ‘Krugman: Fed, Banks Returning to Status Quo 2007’

13.  'Obama's Mortgage Relief Plan is Fallling Short'

14.  And finally, ‘One Year After Financial Crisis, Reform Looks Unlikely.’

Do I dare mention the current unemployment numbers?

All of this, by the way, and air travel sucks since deregulation, thank you, President Reagan. And while I’m on the subject of airline travel: Can I hitch a ride on Air Force One, please?

Because if I could, and if I were graced with just a few small moments of the president’s time, I would have just a few words to say to President Obama concerning his legacy.

Here’s how I’d begin. “Mr. President,” I’d say, “I know I’m just a little guy, but I’d like to offer you a small piece of advice. Here it is, Sir: To be a Big president in the chronicles of history, you have to do something LARGE for the Little People, the ones who need it most.”

Apparently, the purveyors of the Nobel Peace Prize don’t agree with me.

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