Princeton in Petraeus's future?

A scrap of news that seemed to slip through the cracks during our summer coverage: apparently a well-known Princeton alumnus, four-star general and current Director of the CIA David Petraeus, made some casual remarks about running for the position of president of Princeton. When asked about his political aspirations in an interview with The Telegraph in late July (specifically, whether he would consider a 2016 White House run), the Woody Woo grad replied with:“Yes, I want to run for president,” [Petraeus] replies. “President of Princeton University.”The interviewer regards this comment as a “rare joke” from Petraeus, but it’s worth wondering whether the general may have been speaking with even the slightest hint of seriousness. A similar article published by The Daily Beast just days before recounts an almost identical remark from Petraeus; there, the author frames the comment as the general’s musings on “life after the CIA”—and makes no mention of a humorous tone.The ambiguity in these two articles really isn’t helping our pursuit of the truth, but it has left us with ample room to speculate: What would life be like under the Petraeus regime? And how would his policies stack up to those of President Tilghman?