Video: Mitch Daniels Dismissed Presidential Run in 2009 Saying 'I wouldn’t subject myself or my family to what I see as the savagery of presidential politics'

In an interview with C-SPAN two years ago, Gov. Mitch Daniels dismissed running for President in 2012 saying, "I wouldn’t subject myself or my family to what I see as the savagery of presidential politics. If that’s cowardly then it is but for me there’s a lot about the way people campaign for president right now that I find a little superficial.”

The interview was done by Brian Lamb and aired in June 2009. Watch the clip below.

Daniels is now seriously considering running for president. His wife Cheri needs to be on board before he commits. When asked about Cheri during the interview, he said the following when it came to the discussions they had over him running for governor of Indiana at the time:

“You’ll almost never see Cheri or one of the girls with me. It’s my job. That’s what I do. We had this discussion at the very beginning. I almost didn’t run because Cheri had great misgivings. She likes private life. She likes our privacy and family comes first with her and I came this close to not running for that reason.

But I said, 'Look, honey we don’t have to do this like other people. I will never ask you, let alone pressure you, to take part in any event' and I haven’t. I’ve kept that for six years. When she does things of her own choosing people just love her to death because she’s so non-political.”

Here’s the clip: Go to both 2:46 and 55:25 into the clip to hear Gov. Mitch Daniels talk in 2009 about running for President in 2012.

2:46 into the clip
Brian Lamb: “Are you still of the same mind (not to run for elective office again after serving out his term as Indiana’s Governor) no matter how often people are writing these days that we think we’re going to get him back in for the 2012 race for president?

Gov. Mitch Daniels: I am for many reasons but yes I am.

Lamb: Not going to go back on it under any circumstances?

Daniels: I’ve painted myself in about as well as a person can. I say I have lots of reasons for it... I wouldn’t subject myself or my family to what I see as the savagery of presidential politics. If that’s cowardly then it is but for me there’s a lot about the way people campaign for president right now that I find a little superficial.

55:25 into the clip
Lamb: What are you going to say when you change your mind about running for President after we have all this stuff on tape?

Daniels: Well, Brian, like I say I’ve been painting myself in. You’ve helped me put another coat of paint down today. In another old song from our era, ‘It Ain’t Me Babe That You’re Looking For,’ but I hope maybe I can be of some use.

Our party needs obviously a lot of work. It needs to look inwardly and think about how it can speak more meaningfully to the problems of today and to the Americans of today, the young people of the day, specifically.

Maybe I can be a little part of that. You don’t have to be a candidate to do that. Maybe I can help a little bit but not be the front man.

42:10 - Gov. Daniels talk about wife Cheri:
Daniels: You’ll almost never see Cheri or one of the girls with me. It’s my job. That’s what I do. We had this discussion at the very beginning. I almost didn’t run because Cheri had great misgivings. She likes private life. She likes our privacy and family comes first with her and I came this close to not running for that reason.

But I said, 'Look, honey, we don’t have to do this like other people. I will never ask you, let alone pressure you, to take part in any event' and I haven’t. I’ve kept that for six years. When she does things of her own choosing people just love her to death because she’s so non-political.

54:12 - Gov. Daniels on the value of traditional marriage:
Daniels: I hope that the two, soon to be three, marriages that have begun in our family will last for life or certainly as long as there are any children. I have enormous admiration and sympathy for single parents. I think I told you how hard we’ve worked on child support, but it just remains an empirical fact this isn’t some sort of moral judgment.

You could make it that but this is just an empirical fact that of the children of America and so many other problems, poverty in America, every social pathology that tears at your heart would be so much less a problem if we had much higher rates of intact families.

So this isn’t something you can legislate. This isn’t something you should ever scold people about. But you can hope and encourage people to be very, very careful about this, especially when children become involved to please try and think about placing them ahead of your own happiness if you possibly can.