( CNN ) -- I 'm struck by one big question as I watch the Republican presidential candidates battle each other while President Obama tries to win re-election : Why does anyone want to be president ? It 's like auditioning to be bandleader on the Titanic . And yes , I said bandleader and not captain because the captain of a ship has more of an impact on the direction of a voyage than President Obama , or any president who might follow him , can have in our hyperpolarized political climate . With the onslaught of problems he faces today , I would n't be shocked if in the coming weeks President Obama appeared on national TV and declared : `` I have an important announcement : I was actually born in Kenya . Joe Biden you take over , I 'm outta here ! '' But he wo n't quit . Instead , he will raise close to a billion dollars for his re-election campaign . Meanwhile , the Republican presidential candidates will viciously fight each other , like gladiators in the Roman Coliseum -- which , frankly , the past two Republican debates resembled . The audience jeered and booed , with some at times even applauding the death penalty and cheering the notion of allowing a person with no health insurance to die . All that was missing was a thumbs up or down from the crowd indicating if a candidate should be executed . ( This , too , would undoubtedly have been met with cheers . ) Think about it : When you run for president , you are running for the worst job in America . If elected ( or re-elected ) you must deal with a cascade of domestic and international headaches . But to me the greatest challenge facing our president ( or a new president ) is not the economy or the European debt crisis . It 's not the growing influence of China , the Arab Spring or even the issue of Palestinian statehood . Nope , the biggest challenge the president faces is us . Yes , `` We the People . '' Simply put , we are horrible . We have become unreasonably demanding . We want everything now and we wo n't compromise . `` We the People '' have become Veruca Salt from `` Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory , '' making demands in our high-pitched voices : `` I want a goose that lays golden eggs and I want it now ! ! '' `` I want the deficit reduced now , Daddy ! '' `` I want low taxes but the same government services ! '' And if you wo n't give us what we want , when we want it , we will turn our back on you . For example , President Obama had almost a 60 % approval rating after the killing of Osama Bin Laden in May , but just four months later , a recent poll shows , his approval rating is at 39 % . The left wants him to be more liberal , the right wants him to be more conservative and the middle just wants more . The Republican presidential candidates have seen this , too , with Rick Perry being at first welcomed into the race like the `` prodigal son . '' Now , only a few weeks later , he looks more like a doomed NASA satellite about to fall from the sky . What has caused us to become so demanding ? The 24-hour news cycle and social media that allows instant real-time commentary have contributed . But an even bigger factor is our conditioning to reality show competitions on TV . On any number of TV shows each week , we watch , judge and vote on whether a person performs to our liking . One week we sing their praises , but the next week , if they misstep , they are dead to us . We now treat our candidates this way . It 's a presidential version of `` Celebrity Apprentice , '' where we want to fire -- or at least dissect and scrutinize -- the president and presidential candidates for every small gaffe . I have seen better treatment for contestants on Gordon Ramsay 's `` Hell 's Kitchen '' than for our candidates for president . If this keeps up , what type of candidates for president will we attract in the future ? Will it be the smartest and the most qualified or those who , like reality show stars , can weather the cruel glare of an unending spotlight and the fickleness of our affection ? Even reality-show veteran Donald Trump 's skin was too thin to run for president , which is shocking since his skin looks like leather . And , yes , that snarky comment is just the kind of thing I 'm talking about , but I 'm no better than the rest of us . Since this seems to be what we crave , why not commit 100 % to it and create political reality shows to choose our future presidents ? What about shows like : `` The Amazing Electoral Race , '' `` Dancing with the Candidates , '' or `` So You Think You Can Govern ? '' We can vote people off until we are left with the man or woman who has survived by telling us exactly what we want to hear each and every week . But if we do n't take a break from this `` American Presidential Idol '' mentality , we will have no one to blame but ourselves when the 2016 presidential campaign pits Mike `` The Situation '' against the Kardashians . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Dean Obeidallah .
Dean Obeidallah : With politics so hyperpolarized , who would want to be president ? The answer is that the American people don't. He says we treat political leaders like reality show players , up one day , down the next . Obeidallah : We run risk of ending up with leaders who tell us only what we want to hear .