Help Wanted: President of the United States

If interested, please make your candidacy known at the earliest possible moment.

(RNS1-jan16) President Barack Obama looks at the portrait of Abraham Lincoln  in the Oval Office. RNS photo by Pete Souza/The White House.

The People of the United States seek a chief officer for the executive branch of the federal government. The position, a four-year term, begins January 20, 2017. Pay: $400,000, plus $50,000 expense allowance, airplane, helicopter, security officers, and historic residence.

Job Responsibilities: The President is the chief executive officer of the United States of America, the commander in chief of the armed forces of the United States, the chief representative of the United States to the world, and the officer responsible for making treaties, appointing ambassadors, and conducting the foreign relations of the United States. The President also appoints judges of the Supreme Court and lesser courts, as well as heads and other officials of executive branch agencies, subject to congressional review. The President also has the power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States. The President reviews all bills passed by Congress, and has authority to veto laws to which he or she objects, subject to congressional override by 2/3 vote. The President’s conduct of office is governed by the Constitution of the United States, which the President at his or her inauguration swears to preserve, protect, and defend.

The President symbolically functions as the head of state of the United States, and is the subject of enormous domestic and international media attention. Given the great power of the United States, the President can fairly be described as the single most powerful person in the world.


Minimum Qualifications: Natural-born citizen of the United States, at least 35 years of age. Cannot have served two prior terms as President.

Desired Qualifications: There have only been 44 presidents in the history of the United States. They have hailed from a variety of backgrounds. By profession, the majority have been lawyers. Seventeen presidents were previously governors of a state. Sixteen presidents have served previously as United States senators. Fourteen presidents had served as vice-president. Eight presidents had served as Cabinet secretaries. Twenty-two presidents had military experience; nine were generals in the United States Army. Seven presidents had foreign service experience.

Character and Temperament: The presidency is one of the most demanding jobs in the world. The four-year presidential term, by all accounts, is extraordinarily taxing on a day-to-day basis, requiring its office-holder to make difficult decisions on a daily basis, under great pressure, with human life and the well-being of the entire nation (and sometimes, the entire world) at stake. Presidents need to be people of steadiness and stability, able to work well under pressure, and in control of their emotions and their public expression.

Presidents need to be confident enough to make hard decisions and to pursue their priorities, but humble enough to change their minds when needed. Presidents need to be good team-builders and able to surround themselves with talented associates. Presidents need considerable negotiating skills in relation to both domestic and foreign leaders. Especially in a media-driven age, presidents need skilled media relations teams and must demonstrate self-discipline in public comments. Presidents must be impervious to personal or political corruption and dedicated to the public good rather than personal self-aggrandizement.

Selection Process: The president is, somewhat indirectly, selected by the people of the United States. In current practice, candidates put themselves forward for election, by competing in a state-by-state primary system run by the two major political parties. The winners in this process then become the two major candidates for President. On the second Tuesday in November, every four years, the people of the United States vote, state-by-state, with each state assigned a certain number of “electoral votes.” The people vote based on criteria that they themselves choose.

In the end, despite ways in which the selection process is not fully democratic, the person selected to become President of the United States is the responsibility of the People of the United States.


If interested in this position for 2017, please make your candidacy known by public declaration at the earliest possible moment.

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