Campaign rallies and passion

How politics has changed. Today's campaign rallies look like anaemic imitations of the passionate and huge gatherings that Greece experienced for many decades. One wonders why our political leaders insist on holding them. They don't gather enough people, they are not lively, and the image does not play very well on television. There are even party officials, lawmakers and politicians who have been around for years who openly admit that they see it as a chore. Then there are also comparisons made by older politicians who have experienced those rallies and from younger ones who have heard them and possibly glamorized them in their minds. I often hear people around me say, "Hey, what do these speeches have to do with those of Andreas [Papandreou]?" Absolutely nothing, is the answer. Politics has lost its charm, it doesn't captivate the audience, it doesn't excite it - and it probably...