Not everything we say we always believe. There are even times when one is permitted to lie such as “Mi’pnei darkei shalom” – for peaceful purposes. Perhaps this is why politicians lie so much. It seems rather strange that if you lie to people to get their money, that’s fraud, but if you lie to people to get their vote, that’s called politics. Nothing stretches the truth as does a campaign promise. Just because a president expresses a certain opinion, such as President Bush did when he said that Israel must make certain concessions for peace, doesn’t mean that he really believes it will work. Often politicians say things in order to appear as a moderate in the Arab world so that America will be accepted as a peace broker. No one can tell what’s in his innermost mind and what he really believes, except perhaps his closest advisors.
Political bumper stickers usually last much longer than their promises. Often, politicians are more concerned about running for office than running the country. A skillful politician is one who can stand up and rock the boat, then make people believe he’s the only one who can save us from the storm. They know all the angles, but talk in circles. While they consider themselves farsighted, they are a poor judge of distance, often approaching every subject with a wide open mouth. It wouldn’t be a bad idea for them to remember that no newspaper can misquote silence. A political straw vote just shows which way the hot air is blowing. The only thing they stand for is what they believe the voter will fall for. While there are usually two sides to every question, a politician usually takes both. They attend so many dinners that they spend more time fighting indigestion than inflation.
They say that a defeated candidate is a person who doesn’t believe that the majority is always right. Actually, the problem in this country is that only half of all people vote and generally it’s the wrong half. The “radical left” claims that it works within the system – as do termites.
Old timers used to say that anyone can become president, and it seems as if they were right on target. Actually, it doesn’t always pay to be popular. Look what the popularity of horsepower did to the horse!