Letters to the Editor
Nanshan
Published Letters: 1
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Self-interest?
[Read the article: The Democrats' anti-momentum]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]What Richardson's blessing signified was that an ambitious politician with close ties to Bill Clinton (they watched the Super Bowl together) decided that his self-interest would be enhanced by choosing Obama rather than Hillary.
Perhaps that was the calculation... perhaps not. But since ambitious politicians are also voters & citizens, is it not possible that they support a candidate because they believe he or she is the better candidate? Do most Obama, or Clinton, or McCain supporters support their candidate in the expectation such support would be in their best self-interest? I would like to think a functional democratic process requires of the citizen — voters & office-holders alike, on a deep level, a measure of idealism on the nature & possibilities of the political process, & an idealistic sense of the public-spirit. Perhaps Mr Shapiro is doing us all a favor, trying to disabuse us of such silly illusions, but it is a sorry sort of wisdom to have.