Politics & Power Quote by Jimmy Breslin

Breslin’s genius here is his blunt little act of demystification: politics isn’t noble debate, it’s stage management run by men who couldn’t survive the spotlight themselves. The line is deliberately rude - “fat, bald, disagreeable” isn’t just an insult, it’s a class marker and a camera note. He’s describing the kind of behind-the-curtain operator who never pays a personal price for being disliked, because the public doesn’t know his name.

The specific intent is to puncture reverence for presidential “leadership” by reframing it as performance coached by resentful professionals. A president, in Breslin’s telling, is less statesman than lead actor, and the most influential people in the room are the ones who never have to shake hands at diners or take boos at rallies. That’s the sting: accountability is outsourced. The men “unable to be candidates themselves” still get to shape the candidate’s posture, vocabulary, even morality - while remaining insulated from voter judgment.

The subtext has a tabloid-sharp psychology: envy, control, and cowardice. If you can’t win the crowd, you can still direct the show. Breslin’s comedic cruelty is doing analytic work, pointing at an ecosystem where optics outrank substance and consultants, fixers, and party strategists treat democracy like blocking in a theater rehearsal.

Contextually, it sits in Breslin’s longtime suspicion of elites and institutions, honed in the media-saturated late 20th century when television turned presidents into brands and “how to act” became as important as what to do. The quote works because it’s a joke with teeth: it makes you laugh, then makes you notice who’s holding the leash.