Can Haley Barbour get away with it? In Mississippi, apparently he can. Nationally, I doubt it.
Yes, Haley Barbour’s Rolodex of big givers might stand him in good stead if he tried to run for President. But it’s possible that there’s a level of being a completely heartless jerk when it comes to the suffering of poor people that’s compatible with political success in Mississippi but not nationally.
Author: Mark Kleiman
Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out.
Books:
Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken)
When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist
Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993)
Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989)
UCLA Homepage
Curriculum Vitae
Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com
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“But it’s possible that there’s a level of being a completely heartless jerk when it comes to the suffering of poor people that’s compatible with political success in Mississippi but not nationally.”
No there isn’t. There is a level of jerk rhetoric that might not play nationally. But a mere monolayer of “compassionate conservatism” is enough to justify any jerk conduct nationally. Think of Saint Ronnie or the Boy King.