Image Politics

    If you sound like you know what you're talking about, people will assume you do. -- Pug Mahoney

   Election season is meant to bring out the best in government candidates. Too often, however, the lure of authority attracts people who are more interested in power than in building a better society.
   Certainly they claim their goal is to improve society, but that's just an act they perform as a way to win election. Observers say one example is the difference between Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter.
   The first made acquired his popularity as an actor, starring in many Hollywood films, and later successfully projected an executive role so well as to get elected governor of California. Later, in a televised debate with incumbent President Carter, he performed so well that he won the election, even though Carter, a retired military officer and former governor, had more training and experience in leadership.
   Historians say another example is William Jennings Bryan, who was better at portraying a successful leader than he was in actual performance.
   More recently, observers point to Donald Trump, who was adept at overshadowing Hillary Clinton in their televised debates but had no governmental experience. Compare that to her extensive experience both in her own right as a member of Congress and ambassador to the United Nations, as well as companion and advisor to her husband Bill Clinton through his years as governor of Arkansas and as president.
   Eventually, Trump's manner of dealing with others (some call it bombastic) failed him during his years in the White House and his re-election campaign, when his debate opponent Joe Biden in frustration said, "Will you shut up, man?"
   Trump lost his bid for a second term as president, both in the popular vote and the electoral college vote, prompting some editors to point that he also lost the popular vote four years earlier and won through to the White House only by manipulating the electoral vote.
   The tradition of bombast among politicians did not begin recently, observers note, but has long been a tactic used by those in government at every level, from local all the way to international relations. Will it ever change?