Jeff Bezos: I’d ‘rather govern than run’

Jeff Bezos suggests he’s unlikely ever to mount a White House bid because the idea of campaigning doesn’t appeal to him, saying he’d “rather govern than run.”

“I have a lot of things I want to accomplish and so I’m very focused on those things,” the founder of Amazon and owner of The Washington Post told ITK when asked this week if he was “completely ruling out” launching a presidential campaign one day.

{mosads}When we noted that in an interview two years ago he didn’t completely rule out the prospect of a foray into politics, Bezos replied with a hearty laugh, “Yeah, I don’t think so.”

It was almost exactly the same answer Bezos gave Billboard in 2017, when asked if the country could see a “President Bezos” in the future.

“I do not know that that would be inside my set of competencies,” the 55-year-old tech titan and the world’s second-richest person told ITK, reflecting on entering politics.

“Governing and running are such two different skill sets,” Bezos continued. “And so I’d probably rather govern than run. And so you look at this — you can’t have one without the other,” he said.

“And that’s OK,” he added. “I love what I’m doing. It’s a very flattering question, but I’m very happy [with] what I’m doing.”

Bezos was one of six honorees recognized at Sunday’s National Portrait Gallery gala in Washington for accomplishments which have “made an impact on the nation’s shared history, development and culture.”