"It's the toughest job in the world." That's how Hillary Clinton repeatedly described the top spot she's in avid pursuit of, on the David Letterman Show last night. She made the remark as part of a tightly scripted performance that bounced between seriousness (the war in Iraq), sanctimony (her sadness about Senator Craig's lavatory crisis) and humor (much self-deprecating pants-suit shtick). All of it, of course, was delivered from the couch, creating an illusion of intimacy, the faux-spontaneity that talk shows peddle as authenticity.
It was only this morning when it struck me that the tired bromide of the presidency being the toughest job in the world is actually a complete falsehood. (Senator Clinton's constant use of the line, by the way, was a savvy smack at the Senator Obama, whose lack of experience is a perceived weakness).
I can, in fact, think of hundreds of jobs that are harder than the presidency. And I think you can, too. There are soldiers in Iraq, coal miners, single moms saddled with subprime mortgages, hospice workers, first responders and grief counselors. Not to mention Lindsay Lohan's PR advisor and anyone who needs to compete with Google.
What Senator Clinton was really talking about was responsibility. That might make the presidency the most important job in the world - with all the America-centrism that encodes - but that's very different than degree of difficulty.
Being president, in fact, is one of the easiest jobs in the world. Forget the obvious perks like never having to go through airport security, never having to ask twice to get sauce on the side, and never hanging on for an hour to talk to someone in India about your hard drive.
Honestly, what is so hard about the gig? You can hire the smartest, wisest people in the country at below market rate. (Very few people turn down a job in the White House). At the very least, if they don't point you to success and brilliance, they should at least stop you from doing dumb, self-destructive things.
You also have access to the best information in the world; if you choose not to listen, or if you're too dumb to ask the right questions because you don't understand (or don't want to understand) institutional defensiveness, that's your problem. Then there's the clout of the most powerful office in the world.
When you think about recent presidential screw-ups, what reporters like to call domestic and foreign policy disasters, few if any of them came about because the job was "tough." Or because of external forces beyond the president's control. Most of them were simply stupid decisions, self-inflicted wounds created by usual toxic stew of bad judgment, faith in the wrong people, and the trap of feeling committed to standing behind - and then expanding -- some small, bad calls. And, of course, there's also that pesky narcissism that comes from life in the bubble.
Consider the escalation of the War in Viet Nam, Watergate , our continued support of the Shah of Iran, Iran contra, Senator Clinton's very own health care initiative, the War in Iraq, our response to Hurricane Katrina. If you were able to look objectively at the situation, synthesize diverse points of view, utilize some basic scenario-building and game theory, you would have avoided all of these messes.
Needless to say, the job of president can present some monumental challenges and extraordinary demands. But it's been more than fifty years since the last time when the "toughest job in the world" moniker was applicable. FDR had the simultaneous burden of coping with the depression, establishing the Lend Lease program in the face of an isolationist public, and leading us through World War II. (You can also toss in the one-week crescendo of the Cuban Missile Crisis).
Come to think of it, David Letterman has a harder job than the president. He's got to make the artificial seem real, and be funny while doing it. Now that's tough.