The Politics of Promise

Paul Tsongas, folks, now there was a politician with some real cahones. I especially loved it when he went teeth-first into the gut of his own rather stagnant (at the time) Democratic party; challenging their notions on a lot of things. I mean, seriously, a pro-business Democrat back in the '90s - how frigging cool was that? A breath of fresh air personified.......................................................Of course, what was even more impressive was when, instead of cow-towing to the American public (a la 99.9% of politicians from both parties), he decided to give US a little straight medicine, too. I especially remember this episode in Florida (right before the Florida primary, no less), folks. He's giving this speech with a lot of seniors present and, boom, he starts to talk about means-testing social security. I couldn't frigging believe it..........................................................And, yes, folks, I ask you to compare this to the far more traditional politicking/pandering of his main opponent of that era, Bill Clinton. That frigging guy (who, yes, I'll admit it, ended as a not so bad commander, after all)....not only promised a chicken in every pot but a brand spanking new china pattern to serve it on. It was pathetic. The pander-bear, Tsongas used to call him. I used to call him something else.......................................................Bottom-line, folks. Tell the people what they want to hear and, yeah, you'll probably win. It's sad to say. But it's also true.