Just by definition, you’d think, any American who plunges into what Teddy Roosevelt called “the arena,” is no wimp. Campaigning is grinding work, performed to unceasing criticism, always overhung by the risk of assassination.

It takes guts to run for any office, town council on up—and I think it ought to be possible to recognize that truth even across a partisan divide.

Michael thinks that Romney is insecure on the inside. Who knows? It’s possible. It’s also possible that Barack Obama is motivated by anti-colonial rage, or by a secret commitment to socialist ideas. It’s possible that George W. Bush was driven by daddy issues, and that Bill Clinton triangulated—not as a political strategy—but because (some) children of alcoholics become compulsive pleasers.