Every president has faced scrutiny for how they have led the country–or failed entirely at succeeding.
While some presidents faced more condemnation than others, some of our nation's leaders managed to please their supporters but still demonstrated they had room for improvement.
It's not an easy task to simultaneously make the hard decisions from behind the Resolute Desk and be inspirational, but strangers online had their picks of whom would come through for their nation without contempt.
In an effort to imagine more qualified candidates to run the country, Redditor Hungry-Sloth asked:
"Who would you like to see as president?"
People offered their criteria.
Youthful Spirit
"Someone who isn’t a senior citizen. That would be nice."
– Mattyboy0066
The Casual Candidate
"Someone who doesn’t want to be."
– Odd-Goose-8394
"In high school, a student told my American history teacher he should run for President. He was super smart, an overall excellent guy and by far the most liked teacher in our school. His response was: 'People who are smart enough to run for President are smart enough to know they don’t want to be President.'”
– sheddingcat
Too Much To Ask?
"A person who is fair, wise, kind, incorruptible and truly cares about the people."
– EndOfProspect
Time For Change
"Someone young, intelligent and brave enough to admit neither party is doing what they should to help Americans. It’s time for a real change, the two party system has divided us into teams that hate each other instead of a team that works for the betterment of us all."
– ProDiesel
Animal lovers put their faith in furry leaders.
Presidential Pet
"My dog moose he’s a good boy."
– Organic-Cucumber6280
Incumbent Mayor Of Idyllwild, CA
"That Labrador who keeps getting voted in as Mayor."
– hip-hop-anonymous91
In all seriousness...
Blue-Collar Admiration
"Someone who understands the hardship of working class, and has enough compassion to advocate and prioritize it."
– ItsSebjustSeb
Insurmountable Obstacle
"I've come to understand over the years that if a president doesn't have his or her party running a clear majority of the congress and senate then it doesn't matter what they want to enact. The opposition party is likely to stop them with a filibuster. Gridlock is baked into the cake!"
– lovealert911
Redditors started getting very specific.
Personal Endorsement
"My dad, he’s the wisest person I know."
– Nice_Entertainment91
Directly From The Matrix
"Keanu Reeves, they say he's the one."
– cbreeze2121
The Democratic Representative From California
"Katie Porter. She is clear in how she explains things, well researched, and realistic while being a fierce advocate."
– prailock
While many of the responses were sarcastic in nature, it was indicative of the frustrations Americans have had in the past towards administrations representing both political parties.
Based on the high-spirited comments, one Redditor made it clear that users know what they don't want "but people here have absolutely no idea what it is they do want."
To which Redditor leftier_than_thou_2 responded:
"I don't know what challenges the president and country will run into, and the president is only the public face of a very large organization guiding the country."
"I do know some disqualifying features, but I'm not going to say my guy or the highway because it is not going to be any one person doing the whole job by themselves."
Grok 2 mini (beta)
Grok 2 mini (beta)
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@realDonaldTrump/X