Your right about that.   Look at what happened to T. Roosevelt when he bucked the money, yet he is still generally thought of as one of our most popular Presidents.  

We've made it tough to be a political person.    You loose most of your privacy, you seldom have a chance to establish trust in a relationship by just being discrete.    I can't imagine it myself.    I'd be more than willing to work on a staff for a candidate that I believe in.   But if Bush and Perry can become governors of one of our largest states, just what kind of intellectual skills does it take to win an election?   Prom kings and porn stars seem to fit the bill pretty well.   No shame, no guilt, make for excellent self defense if you want a public life.   

I liked both Bush Presidents as people, (although Barbara is the best of them all), but you probably noticed that both 'got out of dodge' when their term ended.    Their lives were not going to be defined by public opinion.