Why they want to be President

Both candidates' own words show the clear contrast between the two when it comes to why they want to be President.

The following is an excerpt from the book "Worth the Fighting For: A Memoir" (2002) by John McCain.

I didn't decide to run for President to start a national crusade for the political reforms I believed in or to run a campaign as if it were some grand act of patriotism. In truth, I wanted to be President because it had become my ambition to be President. I was sixty-two years old when I made the decision and I thought it was my one shot at the prize.

Barack Obama tells us why he wants to be President in a video statement sent to his supporters on January 16, 2007 to announce his candidacy.

Running for the presidency is a profound decision - a decision no one should make on the basis of media hype or personal ambition alone - and so before I committed myself and my family to this race, I wanted to be sure that this was right for us and, more importantly, right for the country...

...America's faced big problems before. But today, our leaders in Washington seem incapable of working together in a practical, common sense way. Politics has become so bitter and partisan, so gummed up by money and influence, that we can't tackle the big problems that demand solutions.

And that's what we have to change first.

We have to change our politics, and come together around our common interests and concerns as Americans.

This won't happen by itself. A change in our politics can only come from you; from people across our country who believe there's a better way and are willing to work for it.

Years ago, as a community organizer in Chicago, I learned that meaningful change always begins at the grassroots, and that engaged citizens working together can accomplish extraordinary things.

So even in the midst of the enormous challenges we face today, I have great faith and hope about the future - because I believe in you.

And that's why I wanted to tell you first that I'll be filing papers today to create a presidential exploratory committee.

I quoted this speech because it is the earliest example of Obama expressing why he wants to be President. Full text of his speech can be found here.

I'll admit that this isn't a very balanced article since I chose only one quote from McCain and a longer one from Obama, but I believe it is fair to show their own words to know exactly why they want to be President. I mean, come on, McCain admits ambition is why he's running for President and he thinks it's a 'prize'!