Getting A Head in Politics

Christopher Hitchens makes some good, if somewhat obvious, points about the political process scaring potentially good candidates away. Towards the end he pivots toward the Tea Partiers, whose claims of being a new presence in American electoral politics are greatly exaggerated.

As is his wont, Hitchens gets in a good zinger or two:

Populism imposes its own humiliations on anyone considering a run. How many times can you stand in front of an audience and state: "I will always put the people of X first"? (Quite a lot of times, to judge by recent campaigns.) This is to say no more than that you will be a megaphone for sectional interests and regional mood swings and resentment, a confession that, to you, all politics is yokel.