JJ: The perception in the press is that an African American on the ticket can only advance an African American issue. I can offer a number of pieces of legislation that would benefit all Americans, but a number of my colleagues would slam them against the Tenth Amendment. Others will say that Jesse Jackson Jr. is supporting some sort of preferential program. There is nothing that is not broad-reaching and inclusive of every single American in this book. How do you define these rights as special interest programs? They're just not that.
PB: Do you think your father would have made a good President?
JJ: He would have made a great President of the United States, and I would have had a blast. [Laughs]
PB: People will undoubtedly read aspirations into this book. Is this your first real step onto the national stage?
JJ: I should tell you a little bit about myself. I don't see myself as a politician, I see myself as a public servant engaged in politics. There are a number of people in the media who will probably read something much broader into our work than my intention. One of the things that Frank and I wanted to do was write something that would be definitive in American politics, that long after I have moved off the political stage, in whatever form that will manifest itself, we wanted something that every politician could be measured against. When a person is running for office and they offer a proposal on education, will their proposal provide equal, high-quality public education for every single American? I want that to be a standard 100 years from now. But there is no need in me kidding myself. Amending the Constitution is not a secret, no one person can do it, no one person can grab this agenda and say that it is theirs. This is an American agenda, and quite frankly, if I never held another office I am comfortable and confident that what we have written is a direction that the country should be going in on behalf of every American.
PB: So you have no aspirations to be President?
JJ: I am actually aspiring to something else that I think is even more profound than being President. I want to be a founding father. And I happen to think that the criteria has become so skewed that the standard for being President is almost impossible. You have to be near perfect, you have to have never done anything wrong in your life, you have to have raised your children a certain kind of way, you have to have been good to your wife, you have to have been moral not only in your public life but also in your personal life. The standard for being a founding father is much lower. Founding fathers owned slaves, slept with other people's wives, some of them have even been accused of sleeping with each other. I think it is easier for me at this stage in my life to be a founding father than to be a President. [Laughs]
