I have no idea why anyone would want to be a politician.
When you're in DC, you spend a minimum of 3 hours a day begging for campaign contributions.
When you're not in DC, you're going to meetings where people come to bitch at you about their Social Security disability denial, medicaid, and black helicopters. It is a weird existence and I don't think many normal people want to do it.
As far as athletes, the NBA has the highest average salary so I guess if I were going to say athlete, I'd pick that career. The season isn't too long and you can mail it in late Jan & Feb for some of those games.
NFL is just brutal and MLB is way too much of a grind.