Contemporary liberalism loves a weepy compassion-based politics precisely because it makes us see people as victims and makes it unlikely we will demand -- so hard-hearted! -- anything of them. It also degrades the role of thought in our political life, and puts a premium on doing what feels right, thus creating endless possibilities for empty or even counterproductive gestures of pity (such as the welfare system, prior to its reform).
Unfortunately, the trend toward weepiness is bipartisan. In 1996, GOP presidential nominee Bob Dole cried thinking about his hometown of Russell, Kan. His vice-presidential candidate, Jack Kemp, cried thinking about Bob Dole crying thinking about his hometown of Russell, Kan. Even President Bush has a tendency to get misty-eyed.
It's not true that real men don't cry (one study says men cry 1.4 times, on average, a month). But they should avoid doing it in public. It seemed that Sept. 11 might create a renewed ethic of manliness in America. Those brave firefighters that day didn't climb the stairs of the World Trade Center because they "felt like it," but because it was their duty. Alas, we're right back to crying being nearly obligatory for a presidential candidate.
It's enough to bring a grown man to, well, anything but tears.