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There is maybe just one greater stress than being on the presidential campaign trail and that’s actually being President of the United States. While it might seem unfair to the candidates — who may oftentimes be seen gaining weight, going gray, and even sometimes exhibiting erratic behavior — there’s good reason our system has evolved the way it has.
Nothing can truly prepare anyone for the stresses of America’s imperial presidency, an office that has grown all out of proportion to the Founders’ design. But a grueling race that — at best — consists of bad food, endless glad-handing, multiple humiliations, and constant exhaustion on the road to an office that consists of endless glad-handing, multiple humiliations, and constant exhaustion (but better food!) is the closest thing to a presidential boot camp as we’re likely to get.
Take Presidentish Joe Biden for example. We were assured for more than four years that he was vigorous, hale, hearty, sharp as a tack, and that he ran circles — when he wasn’t biking them — around his hand-picked staff of energetic super-geniuses. But then one day just a couple of weeks ago, all that campaigning and presidenting and stuff suddenly took its toll and he had one bad debate night against Donald Trump.
