Why would anyone want the job?

As I watch the bloody battle for the Democratic nomination I have to keep asking myself; why would anyone want the job. In a little over seven years the Bush administration has made a disastrous mess of everything. The unwise and mismanaged invasion and occupation of Iraq held every one's attention for much of it. But the war has really impacted very few. Many if not most are being impacted by the economy which is heading south faster everyday. Paul Krugman takes a look at that today and concludes there is little Ben Bernanke and the Fed can do about it - it will be up to the next administration.

I used to think that the major issues facing the next president would be how to get out of Iraq and what to do about health care. At this point, however, I suspect that the biggest problem for the next administration will be figuring out which parts of the financial system to bail out, how to pay the cleanup bills and how to explain what it’s doing to an angry public.

Why would anyone want the job? Indeed!