I love to start characters in a place where you think you know them. We can make all kinds of assumptions about them and think they have no redeeming qualities, but like everyone, they're complex.
I never believed that surrendering the executive power should be a condition of getting the second term. The second term should stand on its own feet.
I was lucky enough not to face any required summer reading lists until I went to college. So I still think of summer as the best time to read for fun.