It does make Clausewitz's saying about war being "politics by other means" back in context when you put it that way.

But really politics is just about "one person causes another to act". This can be through persuasion. It doesn't have to be force (or fraud for that matter).

If you think that all politics is violence then you're always going to be woefully ineffective at it. Never bring a shotgun to a negotiation when a well-placed fact (or fiction) will do.