Politicians - not Evil

"He who tries to please all, pleases none."
Remember Aesop's fable about the man, his son, and a donkey? If you don't, look here: http://bartleby.com/17/1/62.html

Keep that fable in mind when you read Game Change, by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin. Because of this book, I have only read about a third of Barbara Kingsolver's Lacuna,and I love Barbara Kingsolver. (Remember The Bean Trees and Pigs in Heaven?) When Game Change came out I knew I had to read it right then.

Game Change reads like a thriller, and the characters--you couldn't make them up. The subtitle is Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime. He could have put John Edwards in the title too, but it was unwieldy enough as it was, with two authors' names on the cover.

The authors have impressive credentials. John Heilemann writes on politics for New York magazine. I've never read the New York magazine, so I wasn't particularly impressed, but he's also written for The New Yorker., the Holy Grail of writers; the home of James Thurber, E.B. White, and for a long time, Garrison Keillor. Mark Halperin, his co-author, is the senior political analyst for Time magazine. Clearly, these guys run with the big dogs.

Surprise! Politicians are not inherently evil. No one goes into politics to make money. Whether you win or lose, you will spend lots of money, and at the end of it all, whether you win or lose, you will be in the red. They could make much, much more money in a company or on Wall Street, but they don't. Their defining characteristic, as I see it, is egos the size of the U.S. itself. And they are as stubborn as mules, all of them, whether their party's symbol is a donkey or an elephant, they are all mules.

If a politician sticks to his principles and never flip-flops, that politician will never be president of anything except the PTA and the Garden Club. No one would want an elected official who could not change his mind in light of changing circumstances or receiving new information. Successful people adapt, but in politics adapting is flip-flopping. You can stand by your principles until the cows come home, but you'll stay at home unless you can change your mind. It is impossible to please everybody, but you have to try: that is, flip-flop.

Successful politicians have superhuman stamina. Imagine giving six speeches a day in six different places. Imagine reading briefing papers and holding staff meetings instead of sleeping. And the campaign for President starts earlier and earlier. We're already hearing about 2012. I have a new respect for those people who run for office; they suffer in my stead.

Running for office is hell on a marriage. Cindy McCain really didn't want John to run. She was concerned about her two sons in Iraq, for one thing. She thought their being the sons of a would-be President would be, in effect, putting signs on their backs: SHOOT ME. I have a new respect for her; she must have breathed a sigh of relief when the whole thing was over.

American is a land for the rugged individual. Who else would be able to come to a strange land and survive? But every one of those rugged individuals, then and now, knows exactly how the country should be run, and if you are foolish enough to ask, he'll tell you.

Somebody has to be in office; I'm just glad it's not me.