By Claire Colvin on October 17th, 2007 in Talk

A comedian for President? Sounds like a punchline to me.

Wednesday on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert officially announced his candidacy for President of the United States. Or was it announcement announcing his intention to announce? Sounds like he’s got the political spin going already. Does this mean he’ll be taking “the fight for truthiness” all the way to the White House? He’s been to the correspondent’s dinner, does that count?

While I’m sure no one, even Colbert himself, expects this latest bid to be taken seriously, I am amazed that so many people throw their hats into the ring come election time. As it stands, more than a year before the November 2008 election will decide the next President of the United States, 16 men and one woman are officially in the running. Millions and millions of dollars will be spent until the candidates have been whittled down to just two. And then someone will win and someone will lose.

After months of campaigning one of the candidates will be given the task of running a country. Have you ever thought about what a hard job being President must be? Can you imagine what it would be like to sit in the Oval Office and have the world watch your first day on the job? It’s very easy to criticize the person in power, but love him or hate him, it’s fair to say that he has faced decisions most of us have never dreamed of.

If Stephen Colbert was in the White House, well I’m sure it would be entertaining but I’m not convinced that’s any way to run a country. If you could pick any living person to be the next President, what would you look for in a leader? What do you think it takes to be a great President?