Passion for Politics

As I began reading this, upon Max Weber's classification of politicians being in involved either for or from politics, I couldn't help but begin trying to classify each presidential candidate as living either "for" politics or "from" politics. I laughed.
I got a little sidetracked in this lecture during the section about journalism, which was by far my favourite. Weber seems to put so much faith in journalists' abilities and natural feel for politics, and it almost seems that he laments that their profession doesn't allow for them to aspire to positions of political power because of time allowances. Given that this was published in 1919, I can only imagine what Weber would think of today's fast-paced journalism, with online publications and more immediate deadlines than considered possible in early 20th century Germany. He does hit on the central theme of journalists even today being seen as a pestilent layer of society, but still a necessary instrument in swaying the public opinion to the politicians' ideas. Looking at today's collection of journalists, I can't imagine wanting nearly any of them into positions of political power, though there are always exceptions to be made.
Overall Weber seemed to have an interesting point, but I found his flow of ideas not to be consistent. For example, he went from discussing the American "boss" machine to an organized party structure- a very abrupt transition sans explanation for how one evolved or led to the other. A few other points like this within his lecture undermined some of his arguments, in my opinion.
Maybe it's the cynical American in me that couldn't even begin to believe in the self-sacrificing, individual who attains the perfect balance of passion, responsibility, and sense of proportion that Weber delegates to this hero figure that emerges through years of the evolution of politics as a true politician.