Our policy wonks made statesmen superfluous some time ago. As policies take the place of ideas, and techniques supplant the old virtues of civic life, polls and focus groups are consulted, not consciences. Once again it is assumed that hard choices can be made easy, and all difficulties finessed if just the right verbal formulas can be worked out. There is no need to actually confront certain awkward ideas. For they can prove troublesome when applied to the real world.
Power is now in the hands of the pros, and all is supposed to be right in the world.
Better to leave the polished myth unprobed, the implacable truths he dealt with unapplied in these easier times.