What Kind of Temperament Is Best?

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Smith: But we have to draw the line between the issues ... and television and the fact that these people come into our homes now 24/7. They become adjunct members of the family. One reason why I think we have lots of one-term Presidents is because they wear out their welcome like any sitcom character ... The single greatest problem confronting the presidency is overexposure.

Riley: I didn't hear the first presidential debate--I was coming back from abroad--but I saw a picture of [Obama and McCain] afterward ... I thought, This is an interesting example of a case where you would sort of want to see both of those personalities or temperaments blended together. You've got a kind of a hot and a cold, and maybe this is an example where the framers of the original Constitution had it right and the framers of the 12th Amendment had it wrong. Before we adopted the 12th Amendment, the President was the candidate who got the most votes, and the Vice President was the candidate who got the second most votes. And because of the advent of political parties, that turned out to be a very bad idea. But in the current environment, I thought this may be one of the few times in American history where the original framework actually was right. Maybe we would benefit from having both of these guys in the White House at the same time.