Political horses that can run

The classic principles of politics have developed over millennia, going back to ancient Greece and Rome, and there has been a historic, if not histrionic, patina about Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Sarah Palin and now Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry and Ron Paul.

You can't say Paul doesn't believe anything because he has said the same things for decades, but most politicians believe in playing to the voters and getting power more than a philosophy of government. They're horses that can run, getting money, reading polls and dealing with disparate groups.

Nothing terrorizes the nation like a gaggle of big time pols on the prod, but considering their past and present inability to deal with immigration, Social Security, energy, the deficit and other concerns, their biggest problem should be with convincing people that it matters who wins.