I’m still waiting for the politician who campaigns alone, and when asked why their family isn’t there says something like, “a political campaign is basically a job interview, and I don’t bring my family to job interviews. Like many Americans, I’ll do my job as best I can, whatever might be going on back at home.” That’s what it would mean to take the “compartmental” approach before it becomes a matter of desperate political convenience.
As with so many issues in politics, the problem isn’t so much with the position being taken; the problem is with politicians who switch from one reasonable position to a diametrically opposed reasonable position the second it suits their own political viability.
