Reading Weber Now

Scott Horton is relieved at the McCain-Obama match-up. So am I. In fact, I find myself grappling to find my bearings after getting (almost) everything I wanted from this campaign. The Economist is of a similar mind. Both Obama and McCain are in the mold that Max Weber spoke of in "Politics As A Vocation":

Weber gives us a portrait of the person who is “called” by politics. He cannot be a simple moralist who embraces without reservation the values of the Sermon on the Mount, for this is a calling “not of this world.” He cannot be a crude Machiavellian in the common sense who scorns any sense of ethicsthough Weber sees such people all about him in the competing waves of “White” and “Red” terror, he senses their values will lead to a descent into violence and chaos. The age calls for a politician who has a sense of a mission which is informed by ideals, but also has a firm grip on the art of the possible, and an unshakable resolve to do his utmost to achieve it. And most significantly, Weber believes this figure must be capable of holding these ultimately irreconcilable thoughts in mind, drawing motivating from them, being sustained by them, without collapsing under the weight of the many inherent contradictions that the political process presents.