Discussion Question- The Face of America

In this article Berlant talks about how the feminist maxim "the personal the political" has reversed into the primary guiding maxim "the political the personal". I was a little confused by this and was wondering what he means by it and why it matters? After he brings up this point he talks about how this shift has made politics more personal and how "character" issues are more important than ever. Berlant even uses the example of how being independently wealthy and heterosexual, as in the case of Mitt Romney, is marked as an index of personal virtue. Do you agree that issues of character in the public life of politicians are considered more important now than they were in the past?