Literally! Can the United States afford Mike Huckabee as President?
Mike Huckabee, breaking with traditional presidential campaign etiquette, is charging a fee for his speeches. But he will give a church a break on his customary fee of $25,000. Huckabee defended his continued métier, "if I don't work, I don't eat." He is performing 2-3 paid speeches per month. He has unabashedly stated that he would like to do more since this is the only income he has.
Mike Huckabee, also in an unprecedented move, has decided that he will continue to charge for his speeches if elected President. But in all fairness Huckabee stated that, "if elected I will use the presidential salary of $400,000 as a credit each year against his speaking fees, and will not start charging until that is exhausted." Huckabee also stated that his customary fee is $25,000 as a presidential candidate, but if elected he would be morally obligated to charge market value of around $100,000 per speech.
Huckabee's breakdown for his speeches as President would vary depending on their importance and necessity. For instance, he stated, "the State of the Union is a mandatory speech and should be compensated accordingly. A $75,000 fee should be just compensation for a speech that is mandatory. Although the State of the Union address is not constitutionally mandated to be given annually, that has become the custom , so I don't see a problem with accelerating it to at least once a month," he stated.
"Press conferences, although not technically speeches, should be compensated on some level," Huckabee stated. Perhaps my fee would only be in the neighborhood of $50,000. I am standing at a podium and answering questions, so I am speaking, technically.
Huckabee, in a show of generosity, did say that if elected President, he would not charge for his inaugural speech. "That one's on the house," he stated.
When asked if he felt justified and morally absolvent to continue charging for his speeches during his campaign and to continue if elected President, he pointed out the members of Congress that were running for President from both parties while simultaneously being paid by the government, but were not, and probably have never, been fully discharging their duties-yet are enjoying income. He was sharply reminded that his reasoning could encompass the entire Democrat led Congress for the past year.
As far as the charging for speeches as President, he said he had it on good authority that if John Edwards were elected, there would be a provision in his nationalized health care program that would allow him to continue to bring litigation against doctors and the newly formed government health care system for malfeasances as President, with his normal contingency, of course.
