Warning: The following post will get dorky.

I’ve belabored Crowley’s leadership ambitions long enough. But I failed to ask myself an important question first: why would he want to climb the ladder anyway? As a philosophy major in undergrad, I remember reading about the nature of leadership in Plato’s Republic – (told you it’d get dorky).

The book is a thought experiment about developing the utopian city. In another words, it’s a classic that few read cover to cover – I haven’t – Sparknotes is like catnip for procrastinators.

Anyway, one section of the book explains how the very people who want leadership positions are the ones who shouldn’t be leading.

“The state in which the rulers are most reluctant to govern is always the best and most quietly governed, and the state in which they are most eager, the worst.”

Think high school student government. David Foster Wallace did a good job summing up the personality type.

Think back to the sort of kids in high school or college who were into running for student office: dweeby, overgroomed, obsequious to authority, ambitious in a sad way. Eager to play the Game. The kind of kids other kids would want to beat up if it didn’t seem so pointless and dull.

Although Crowley would have been difficult to beat up at 6’4,’’ he is the student government-type; he’s been in office since he was 24.

Maybe Crowley isn’t after personal gain entirely, but he sees the chance to do some good and get paid to do it. A member of Congress makes $169,000, and state assembly members make around $80,000.

Nevermind free parking, great health insurance, or the 16 weeks off they get each year. They were scheduled to be in session only 137 days last year.

Granted, their time off is considered “work-breaks” or “home-district periods,” where they meet constituents. I agree, meeting with the public is probably about as fun as a day at the DMV.

But these are the perks the public knows of, it’s only through scandal do we see what else they get.

McMahon’s got the name and the dough.

In his 2010 reelection bid Mike McMahon has the advantage of political tenure and the mountain of cash that comes with incumbency.

His two potential opponents are relatively unknown and frantically shaking hands and taking donations across the borough.

Mike Grimm is a former FBI agent and Gulf War veteran. His first run for office is fueled by a passion for conservative principles and a urge to uproot the current regime in Congress.

“I believe our country is on a very dangerous path,” Grimm told me last week, over the phone. “People are angry. People are more conservative here and they are not for a Nancy Pelosi agenda.”

Mike Allegretti is a relatively young former Brooklynite and political staffer who is making a name for himself in his new home, out on the borough of Staten Island.

“This is a values-based community,” Allegretti said. “I believe McMahon is a political member of Congress. With him people come second, politics comes first.”

While there are slight shades of difference between these political neophytes, their biggest challenge is to raise awareness, and money, on a borough very much neglected by Manhattan media — except, of course, when the ferry crashes.

As election day gets closer McMahon’s campaign will unlock the vault and let that ocean of cash flood Staten Island with poltical ads. And it is unclear whether the Republican candidates will sink or swim.

(according to OpenSecrets.org)

A lot of the times a  filthy rich Congressman that seems out of touch with the common man and has his own villa huffs and haws about the oppressed members of society, it can seem a little disingenuous. Charlie Rangel has made a career out of fighting for the little guy, and despite his current fat cat status his fighting words still seem to come from a genuine place and a genuine understanding of the poor and the downtrodden.

It’s important to remember that Charlie, as much as we love to give him a hard time for his recent transgressions, and despite him dressing like the monopoly man, has been down and out. Raised by a poor single mother in the slums of Harlem, he fought his way to the top. Whether it was dropping out of high school or being shipped out to fight in Korea, he made something of a terrible situation. Perhaps that’s why he still gets a lot of love in Harlem and from those of lower socioeconomic means despite the bow-tie.

In the past week alone, he helped introduce a bill to speed along Haiti’s recovery, voted for a bill that helps to provide care and support for veterans, and fiercely criticized the Arizona immigration bill. Though he’s not exactly taking a controversial viewpoint, and though some may assume he’s only providing lip service, throughout Rangel’s entire career he’s made a habit of embracing similar legislation, whether it’s veteran benefits or providing tax relief for low-income families.

Despite all his errors, Rangel still comes across as being true to roots, and that’s what people who question his support and power don’t seem to understand.

Since the first salvoes of the health care debate, Anthony Weiner seemed to believe that Congressional Republicans were negotiating in bad faith. He focused much of his public commentary on pointing out what he contested was as the lack of a coherent policy rational in the Republican opposition to health care reform.

For Weiner it was black and white…obviously the Republicans had one goal and one goal only: employ the old stereotypes to undermine a popular new president and turn the tide of political battle. Throughout the spring he gently ridiculed his colleagues and the administration for being gullible in the face of old-fashioned know-nothing fear mongering politics.

Doing this gently, must have been somewhat of a trial for a Congressman who doesn’t like to wait. He has a reputation for impatience. One former staffer speaking on back round described his tendency to “sigh exaggeratedly” and “rapid-fire snap his fingers” as stressed out interns scramble to locate spontaneously requested phone numbers or policy briefs. Referring to an impatient Weiner the staffer said “he’s wound really tight, if you put a piece of coal in his hand while he’s in one of his moods you’d probably get a tiny diamond.”

Weiner never seemed to doubt that the motivations of the Republican leadership were purely political.

In the battle over financial regulation, the White House and congressional leadership now seem to be operating under the same assumptions.

White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer recently said that one of the lessons of the health care battle was: “not to assume that the opposition is willing to be constructive.”

The AP quoted Harry Reid as Saying “I’m not going to waste any more time of the American people.”

It must be somewhat cathartic for Weiner to see his Democratic colleagues finally taking the gloves off. The same AP article quoted him as saying: “You can see immediately the difference in tone, and you can’t help thinking they (the administration and Congressional leaders) learned that message pretty quickly…There was no waiting for their 60th vote, or waiting for a bipartisan group to finish.”

For the time being most Democrats seem to have decided that playing nice with the Republicans is pointless. Weiner has seen this all along.

After trying to find clips of the White House correspondents’ dinner Saturday night, I asked myself, “Why do I care?” or more impolitely, “Who gives a shit?”

I started thinking, none of my friends probably even know it’s happening (beside my classmates reading this) or what it is – my mom wouldn’t. It certainly won’t affect me.

The whole affair seems like TMZ, politics and a high school prom put together.

The Sunday morning shows will probably say Obama snubbed so and so, or that he shouldn’t have attended and should have been in Louisiana and that this is his Katrina.

This is what’s wrong with media coverage. They track missteps, farts, and sycophants.

Technology isn’t helping this sound bite coverage. We’re all a little more scatterbrained. Have you seen anyone under the age of 30 in line at Starbucks, not looking at their phone (myself included)? By 2015, 140 characters will be the new short story. Frgt vwls.

Bill O’Reilly has some 3.5 million views a night – far and above the leader – while “Dancing with the Stars” has 23 million viewers. I think there’s a market to be had.

We can connect with 5th grade friends on Facebook, but can’t get people interested in politics.

After Saturday night’s fanfare, I know my trips from school back to the Bronx won’t change. I’ll see the same people begging for money, the same workers dozing off after too many hours, and a few of them quenching the thirst of a better life with a Budweiser.

Joe Crowley’s district – where I live – is still one of poorest in the country. He’s not responsible for decades of destitution, but who is?

Crowley will win in November. He may even grab a top leadership post as well. But even a well-positioned Congressman can only do so much.

Just walk through Charlie Rangel’s district.

And Eliot Engel calls himself a baseball fan.

I once swore on the hallowed memory of Lou Gehrig that I would never trust a Mets fan from the Bronx, so I’m definitely a little biased on this issue (I have it on good authority that Engel roots orange and blue)….but it bothers me that Engel hasn’t joined Bronx congressional colleague Jose Serrano in calling for Major League Baseball to move next year’s All-Star game from Phoenix, if Arizona doesn’t repeal its new immigration law.

Now, there is no MLB team in Engel’s district, so in that regard he’s clear. But he does represent a significant Hispanic population, and often speaks out on immigration issues.

Furthermore, Engel talks baseball a lot. When you Google Search Engel press releases that include reference to baseball, you get three pages of results.

Some of his baseball-related press releases:

• The one where he asked Major League Baseball to prevent players and coaches from using smokeless tobacco
• How about when he used a baseball analogy to criticize attempt to change filibuster rules mid-filibuster
• Don’t forget about that one where he recommended new steroid rules
• Or that other steroid one
• Ah, yeah, the one where he wanted the Subcommittee on Telecommunications to get involved with a YES Network broadcast issue
• Oh! That reference to baseball’s anti-trust exemption during the health care debate

This is the perfect way to show support for America’s Hispanic community (and therefore his own Hispanic constituents), while not risking the appearance of “meddling” in Arizona’s affairs.

A teaser for next week

Could it be that Engel doesn’t want to give his new Tea Party challenger ammunition? Check back next week to find out….