Bill Bulger: Politics as Theater… Charisma and Classics

Bill’s political career is an example of virtue as its own reward. Whether studying politics through the eyes of the ancient Greeks or through those of the twentieth-century political leader James Michael Curley, Bill skillfully learned from them and perfected the intricacies of power and politics. He understands politics as theater, featuring both comedies and tragedies.

Bill’s personal charisma and classically trained self-confidence vaulted his career to a higher moral plane, and it has remained there. Whether he was being unfairly maligned by the Boston Globe or Harvard’s Dershkowitz, or being called “same-suit Bulger” because he was not a clothes horse in the State House. Bill kept focus and defended his South Boston community and killed abortion legislation. Bill knew where he stood and why he stood there. He accomplished all this while helping his wife, Mary, to raise their nine children. Bill has valued his faith and his family throughout his political career.

“Why do they stay at it? Why do they choose public service in the first place?  Bill answer’s is: “Others may think the politician is on an ego trip, or has base motives, for selfish gain or enrichment in some way. I think there is a basic recognition that this kind of service is worthwhile. And this sense of its value grows with experience. But the politician who stays the course soon realizes that it must be enough that he himself knows what good he has done.”