What's with power?

Yesterday I joined the millions of people around the world who watched Obama’s inauguration as 44th president of the USA. I have to say that this is the very first time in my life that I felt any interest at all to watch such an event; and I had so many thoughts while doing so that now I have plenty of material in my head for at least a couple of dozen blog posts!

One of my main thoughts was around the concept of ‘power’. I think that someone who becomes the ‘leader of the free world’ must certainly be stimulated by it, and, hence, could easily be blinded by it. If someone has the drive and ambition to climb so high, what is the REAL motivation? Doing the greater good - only? To serve your country - only? Or does becoming the most ‘powerful’ man on Earth is probably one of the key incentives?

I’ve seen men blinded by the power of being ‘The CEO’ of a teeny company. Someone who starts a business with 10-15 employees, and just because he is the boss he feels that he has the right to manipulate things, situations and people as he pleases.

So, isn’t it the same, or even worse, with politicians? Isn’t this exactly what we saw happening with Bush? So, why will Obama be different?

I am not saying that Obama will NOT be different. But, what is it exactly that sets him apart? That makes him more in touch with reality - if that is really the case? That makes him immune to the effect of power: lots and lots of power?

I don’t know. I have many ideas, but I truly don’t know.

At this point, I can only hope that Obama will not suffer from the teeny-CEO achievement syndrome ... which, I think, is very similar to the Pharaohs' definition of achievement: