The following excerpt is from the op-ed which appeared in the Boston Herald and is available in full through the following link:  Muddled Message

"Many years ago, as an idealistic student, I threw myself into the statewide campaign of a Democrat who was a passionate advocate for everything that I believed government could help accomplish. She, too, was a sure frontrunner. When I expressed concern to a party operative about another candidate’s ability to connect with the voters, I was excoriated for even suggesting that an opponent had strengths. I stayed quiet the rest of the campaign. My candidate lost.

Decades later, I was speaking with a former colleague who was joining the Clinton administration. During a discussion about my involvement in local charities addressing hunger and domestic violence, she wondered why I worked on such grassroots efforts instead of having greater engagement in party politics. Why spend all that time helping individuals, she asked, when you could have a greater reach focusing on broader policy changes? Her response was a puzzling failure to understand why it could be more emotionally satisfying to offer immediate help to people, rather than labor for years on policy before the human impact is realized. The fact is both matter."