Character Analysis
Charles Palantine is running for president: He seems to be a man of the people, a potential great reformer. In order to impress Betsy, Travis Bickle volunteers to work for Palantine. One day, he happens to pick up Palantine in his car and praises him—Palantine asks what Travis wants to change about the city.
Travis responds with a long, creepy rant (the Bickle signature) saying how disgusting New York makes him, and how he wishes someone would flush the whole mess down the toilet. Palantine seems a little uneasy, but he says he knows what Travis is talking about, and that it's going to take hard work and radical changes. He seems like a basically nice dude.
However, this political love affair sours when Betsy rejects Travis. Travis turns violently against Palantine and plots to assassinate him, hanging outside Palantine rallies. We hear bits of Palantine's speeches at this campaign events, in which Palantine says things like this:
"Walt Whitman, that great American poet, spoke for all of us when he said: "I am the man. I suffered. I was there." Today, I say to you: we are the people, we suffered, we were there. We the people suffered in Vietnam. We the people suffered, we still suffer from unemployment, inflation, crime and corruption."
Palantine wants to represent The People and help them find the reforms they need to make America (and New York) better. However, Travis doesn't identify with "The People"—actually, he seems to hate most of what he sees on the streets of New York. Perhaps this is why he wants to kill Palantine too, as a nihilistic act of vengeance against the whole human race. When he actually makes his move though, he fails to even draw his gun—the Secret Service chase him away.
At the end of the movie, Travis congratulates Betsy after Palantine wins the nomination. So maybe the city will get less awful after all.