"Dabgummit!"
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That ought to be the new slogan for the Fred Thompson presidential campaign. While I basically agree with most of his stands on the issues, the position of president is much more than that. In fact, other than serious junkies like those of us here in the political blogosphere, my guess is that most ordinary voters pay little attention to details at all. Instead, they vote for broad themes, and those ever-so-hard to describe traits known as "likeability" and "leadership."
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Apparently, NH Republicans found little to "like" about Fred Thompson when they went into the voting booths yesterday. Total votes cast for Fred Thompson: 2,628. Ouch! Compared to the rest of the field, this showing is best described as pathetic. (Ron Paul: 16,665; Rudy: 18,763; Huck: 24,363; Mitt: 69,132; McCain: 81,005~ *not yet final as of this posting)
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There has to be some sort of burning rationale for a presidential run. When you look at Fred’s reasons, they are either (unfortunately) not ones cared enough about by ordinary people, or they are already accounted for by some of the other leading candidates. Try to name his theme. There really isn’t one– or one that isn’t fairly well covered by one of the others running for the nomination. The presidency is about leadership. Americans must be willing to trust in whoever the person is enough to want to follow. If we were going off on a hunt deep in the wilderness with nothing but guns, beer, and chewing tobacco, I would be the first to nominate Fred as the hunting party leader. As president? I’m not so sure. Oh, I like the guy, and believe he would make an excellent president as far as the issues go, I just don’t see him motivating Americans to do those things. After all, the first step is that you’ve got to inspire them to check your name in the voting booth. If you can’t do that, you’ll never get them to support market solutions to fix social security, no matter how good an idea that is…
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