--- title: President Obama Has a Question for 2016 Candidates description: "Why?" canonical: https://time.com/4162230/barack-obama-2016-candidates/ author: Daniel White article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-28T16:59:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:41:53.654Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Obama Has a Question for 2016 Candidates og:description: "Why do you want to do this?" og:url: https://time.com/4162230/barack-obama-2016-candidates/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9bfb8f9393bb93e7/698876f4e20a8710cca8ed26/barack-obama-interview.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: US President Barack Obama gets up from his desk after signing the budget bill that will fund the government until next September, in the Oval Office at the White House December 18, 2015 in Washington, DC. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Obama Has a Question for 2016 Candidates twitter:description: "Why do you want to do this?" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9bfb8f9393bb93e7/698876f4e20a8710cca8ed26/barack-obama-interview.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Obama Has a Question for 2016 Candidates > Sponsored content. 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Nine Republican presidential candidates faced off for the fifth Republican debate on CNN_ by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Dec 28, 2015 4:59 PM UTC  US President Barack Obama gets up from his desk after signing the budget bill that will fund the government until next September, in the Oval Office at the White House December 18, 2015 in Washington, DC. US President Barack Obama gets up from his desk after signing the budget bill that will fund the government until next September, in the Oval Office at the White House December 18, 2015 in Washington, DC. Mark Wilson—Getty Images by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Dec 28, 2015 4:59 PM UTC President Obama has a question [he would like to ask his potential successors:](http://www.npr.org/2015/12/28/460813963/president-obama-has-a-question-for-his-successor) “Why do you want to do this?” In the last segment of an end-of-the-year interview, NPR’s Steve Inskeep asked Obama what he would want to question his potential successors about. Obama responded by taking a broader view of the 2016 race. “If you’re aspiring to this job then you need to ask yourself some very serious questions about why you’re doing it, because that is what is going to keep you going on those days that things aren’t going so well,” he said. “What sustains me, what lasts, what makes me happy, proud, frustrated sometimes, is the recognition that if you want this job, then you really need to love this country and have a very clear vision and idea of what it is that you want to do to help make this country work even better.” Obama also had a warning about those who might run for president for the wrong reasons. “And I suppose they would give a cliche answer because that’s what candidates do,” said the President. “But I will tell you as president, if you are interested just because you like the title or you like the trappings or you like the power or the fame or the celebrity, that side of it wears off pretty quick. At least it has for me.” Read Next: [_Obama and Clinton Named Most Admired Man, Woman_](http://time.com/4162124/gallup-most-admired-poll/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4162230/barack-obama-2016-candidates/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4162230/barack-obama-2016-candidates/"},"headline":"President Obama Has a Question for 2016 Candidates","datePublished":"2015-12-28T16:59:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:41:53.654Z","description":"\"Why do you want to do this?\"","url":"https://time.com/4162230/barack-obama-2016-candidates/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election","White House","President Barack Obama"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9bfb8f9393bb93e7/698876f4e20a8710cca8ed26/barack-obama-interview.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel White","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/daniel-white/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9bfb8f9393bb93e7/698876f4e20a8710cca8ed26/barack-obama-interview.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US President Barack Obama gets up from his desk after signing the budget bill that will fund the government until next September, in the Oval Office at the White House December 18, 2015 in Washington, DC.","caption":"US President Barack Obama gets up from his desk after signing the budget bill that will fund the government until next September, in the Oval Office at the White House December 18, 2015 in Washington, DC.","creditText":"Mark Wilson—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4162230/barack-obama-2016-candidates/","name":"President Obama Has a Question for 2016 Candidates"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Watch the Fifth Republican Debate In Four Minutes","description":"Nine Republican presidential candidates faced off for the fifth Republican debate on CNN","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/mQUMUx2k/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-12-16T05:38:16.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/mQUMUx2k.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4162230/barack-obama-2016-candidates/","duration":"PT4M","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4162230/barack-obama-2016-candidates/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```