Politics is power. Everyone involved in politics strives for the same thing, power. However, power has a much different meaning for everyone. For Obama and Romney, power is running the country. For Jeff Flake, power is running Arizona. And for someone running for class president, power is deciding whats best for his class. Before one can acquire power though, they must have trust. Voters need to trust and respect a candidate before they are willing to give their vote to him. The candidate must appeal to the public and present himself in way that catches people’s eye and leaves a strong first impression. When a politician puts himself in the spotlight and states his case, this is the first step on the road to acquiring power.
Ethics, trust, and power are different for everyone, and mean something different to everyone as well. What a politician says or does on the political stage may be greatly different than what he actually thinks or believes, yet he acts this way to appeal to the voters. This is exemplified by Robert Redford’s character in the The Candiate. What a candiate says behind closed doors and away from the cameras and microphones may be much different than what he says on stage. This also occurs in Ides of March. Stephen Meyers has to balance trust and power when he meets Tom Duffy. Meyers believes that aligning himself with Duffy will gain him power and leverage in the political world. However, Meyers did not inform Governor Morris and Paul Zara, his bosses, because he thought that if they found out he would lose their trust in him. Meyers tried to come off as sharp and instead looked foolish in the eyes of the viewer. When the issue became pubic he had no choice to inform Zara in a last ditch effort that would hopefully give the campaign power and force Zara to continue putting his trust into Gosling’s character.
The democratic candidate, played by George Clooney, also faces ethical issues in relation to how he runs his campaign during the time that he is trying to win a key primary in Ohio. Even though he continues to hold the lead over the opposition, his earlier decision to not align himself with other politicians is now coming back to haunt him as he has a very small window of time to get as many votes as possible or he could lose the primary. Clooney’s character ends up wanting the power more than anything and sacrifices his morals in order to win the party nomination.
Power can have an incredibly large effect on people and can even be compared to a . Once people get a taste of it, they will stop at nothing to get as much as possible, no matter what it takes. And there have been several notable cases throughout U.S. history that exemplify this. Watergate certainly comes to mind as wel as Bill Clinton’s sex scandal. These occurrences and many others are great example of the effects that power, and especially political power can have on people. These two scandals cost both presidents their jobs and will forever have an impact on their legacy.
Clooney and his campaign advisor both were involved in scandalous events that included young women. Their moment in the limelight coupled with their rising levels of fame and power allowed these young women to become attracted to them , but in the end the politician has to be aware of what he is doing and keep the consequences in mind. Clooney’s character was even married at the time, but the prize was too good to pass up in his mind.
Trust and ethics lead to a power, but power can also lead to the loss of a persons trust and ethics. These high powered politicians, like Clooney’s character, let all of the power go to their head that they forget what got them in this position in the first place. These types of actions have the power to ruin a persons life and career, and are not worth it in the grand scheme of things. The media knows this and they are constantly lurking in the shadows of political campaigns because they know that if they catch the slightest mistake being made it could potentially make national headlines and/or ruin that politicians career. Voters want an honest and upstanding person to lead them, and if too many people are untrustworthy and lack good character the truth will eventually be revealed and it will cost them dearly. With great power comes great responsibility, and it is the job of all politicians to know this.
Struggle for the Presidency 