Originally Posted by Osem

The older you get, the more you realise that leaders - even great/successful ones - sooner or later seem to wind up believing their own rhetoric, refusing to accept they're wrong and making big mistakes, which we all suffer for, as a result. Merkel's merely the latest in a long line...

I do think most start out in politics for the right reasons but it's amazing what a dose of power and the various trappings accompanying it eventually do to their morals and judgement.