Demagogue

Yesterday, Barack Obama announced he was forming an exploratory committee as he weighs a campaign for president in 2008. Obama began his announcement this way:

As many of you know, over the last few months I have been thinking hard about my plans for 2008.

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 ...

So I guess "media hype" and "personal ambition" are appropriate reasons to run for president — so long as they aren't the only reasons you run.

Perhaps Obama was just acknowledging a fact that his fellow candidates won't — personal ambition is a big reason why anyone decides to run for president.