Why So Many Politicians Are Such A–holes – By John F. Harris (Politico) / Mar 11 2021
Andrew Cuomo is not likable. Vernon Jordan was. There’s a lesson in there.
Politicians have devoted their professional lives to the art of public persuasion. Reputation is everything. Success hinges on getting as many people as possible to view their ideas and their life stories as sympathetically as possible.
Sounds simple enough. But here is a puzzle: Why are so many people in the business of being likable actually so unlikable?
Not unlikable merely in the awkward, eye-rolling, prefer-not-to-spend-much-time-with-that-clod sense. Unlikable in the toxic, misanthropic, something-must-be-wrong-with-him sense. In other words: in the Andrew Cuomo sense. Or at least, it is now clear, the way many subordinates and fellow politicians experienced Cuomo on many occasions.
The unlikability of many politicians and people who labor for them is an enduring phenomenon. No need to pick on Cuomo, except that he’s spent decades asking for it and is in the news right now.
His case is part of a convergence of recent events this week that puts an old subject in a vivid new light.
CONTINUE > https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/03/11/andrew-cuomo-likable-politicians-475284
