Would you vote for a President if you knew his wife was going to die while in office?

378>Seriously, would any President be a good one if his wife lost a long, hard-fought battle against cancer? Wouldn%26#039;t he be totally distraught? How is he going to deal with Iran and Korea if he is in a dark room grieving? You could say, %26quot;Ah, he%26#039;ll get over it.%26quot; But you just don%26#039;t know. Politicians--believe it or not--are people, too. They are subject to being distracted, getting depressed, and needing some time to get affairs in order. Would you be really comfortable knowing that your President is about to start taking a new anti-depressant? Those things have side-effects in some people, you know...





And if he is not grieving, what does that say about him??? Shouldn%26#039;t he be spending the last few months of his wife%26#039;s life with her??? What does that say about this man???
Reply:i agree, he should be at home with his wife. she should be his top priority. being President is not a 9-5 job
Reply:I would not!
Reply:No, I would not...
Reply:A lot of great people have gone through tragedy and still gone on to accomplish great things. You are obviously very blessed in never having had to deal with life during a hard time. I think your comments are insensitive at best and border on cruel. President Lincoln is said to have endured depression for most of his life. I imagine that there are a lot of Americans out there today that are grateful he did not let that stop him from trying (and succeeding) to make our country a better place. And just so you know I%26#039;m not an Edwards supporter. I am not even from his political party.
Reply:Hey chicken -little, the sky is not falling, your crystal ball needs dusting and hopefully from the tone of your question I%26#039;m hoping your not old enough to vote so why worry.
Reply:Before I realized you were referencing John Edwards, I thought, %26quot;What an interesting question.%26quot;





And once I figured it out ... it%26#039;s still an interesting question.





Let me first answer your question this way: I%26#039;m not going to vote for Edwards, but his wife%26#039;s cancer does not factor into that decision at all.





You%26#039;re right, people grieve. People also know that they have to, on some level, put aside their grief at certain times. Clinton lost his mother while he was President. I believe Jimmy Carter did as well. JFK lost a son while in office. To the best of my knowledge, it did not affect their overall performance. Yes, they took time to grieve. But they had a responsibility to attend to, and they still looked after it.





You and I are no different. When my grandparents died, I got three days bereavement leave. That doesn%26#039;t mean my employer expects me to be over my grieving in three days. It%26#039;s simply a recognition that I needed some time to myself, away from work, to grieve, to mourn, to remember. In that regard, we%26#039;re no different from the politicians, with the possible exception that my grandfather%26#039;s funeral was not broadcast on every major news outlet. (Also, a President can do his job pretty much anywhere in the world, so if he needs some extra time at home or something, he can have it.)





Also, though, I knew that I had to begin to move on, and that had to begin with letting my life return, albeit slowly, to its normal rhythm. And that meant going back to work, just as it would for a President.





As for a President taking an anti-depressant, no, I wouldn%26#039;t be comfortable with that. Not because I have issues with a President being depressed, but because I know (from firsthand experience) just how much psychotropic drugs can screw you up. By the same token, though, he%26#039;s going to be much more closely monitored.
Reply:No.