MARCH 2, 2008 --

Senator Hillary Clinton remarked during a recent debate with Senator Barack Obama that she will be okay after the campaign; it's the American people she is concerned about.

LPR is not sure that this is what James Madison had in mind when, in Federalist 57, he called on leaders who "communion of interests and sympathy of sentiments" with the people.

The senator's comment  suggests a disparity of circumstance  between leaders and people. For LPR, No. 57 calls on our leaders to stand with the people.

LPR has some difficulty, then, with Senator Clinton's comment (and a similar remark previously made by former senator and Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards).  LPR is concerned about politicians who will be okay whether they win or lose a presidential race.  

Senator Clinton's comment suggests that politicians are different from us -- no matter what, they don't really lose. Financial ruin is for us non-pols.   

Senator Clinton seems to have acknowledged: she can never really feel our pain.  And perhaps not even its sources.

Senator Clinton's concern for Americans would have been, at least for LPR, a bit more credible had she taken notice, for example, of credit card interest rates that are sending this particular American to a financial flatline by early spring.   

And I have a hunch I am not alone in this regard, in view of all the debt relief emails and radio commercials.

* * *

Perhaps we ought to have a new TV reality series: Saved from Financial Ruin -- or Not?   

This series could track financially hard-pressed Americans who are not politicians for a few months, to see who, if any, can avoid the financial abyss.  

And yes, LPR could be one of the contestants.