Ahh, the pundit-driven presidential boomlet. Every so often, a Washington prognosticator like David Brooks will latch on to an obscure figure--someone like the attractive, socially-conservative neophyte Senator John Thune--and extol his (or her) virtues to the heavens, explaining why only this person can redeem the party and become the next president. Admittedly, it sometimes works, but it's often just a passing fantasy. Click through this TNR slideshow for a look at this year's crop of media-created white knights.
This week, Brooks did devote his column to the well-bred Thune: “He grew up in Murdo, S.D., population 612. His father was a Naval aviator in World War II and a genuine war hero. … John was a high school basketball star and possesses idyllic small-town manners, like the perfect boy in a Thornton Wilder play. He appears to be untouched by cynicism. In speeches and interviews, he is straightforward, intelligent and earnest. He sometimes seems to have emerged straight into the 21st century from a more wholesome time.”
In June, writer and Christopher Buckley identified MSNBC talk-show host Joe Scarborough as the one to save the GOP: “I’ve found the new face of the Republican Party. It’s not a new one, entirely, and it’s been hiding out on national television every weekday morning from six to nine. Joe Scarborough. … Scarborough comes across as a profoundly likeable and reasonable man. Reagan Lite, you might even say. Could we do better? I’m open to suggestions.”
Rich Lowry, the editor of National Review, likes Indiana governor and former OMB head Mitch Daniels: “He’s a Reaganite who is not trapped in 1980s nostalgia; he’s a fiscal conservative who believes not just in limiting government, but in reforming it to address people’s everyday concerns; he’s a politician of principle who refuses to sell his program in off-puttingly partisan or ideological terms. … As they grapple with Pres. Barack Obama, Republicans at the national level could do worse than ask themselves: What would Daniels do?”
Bill Kristol was dead-on when he predicted John McCain would pick Sarah Palin to be his running mate. Now, he's backing Liz Cheney: “Of course, everyone’s first choice for president in 2012 is Dick Cheney. But Liz Cheney’s boffo performance yesterday in the lefties’ den, MSNBC, defending sensible interrogation policies in the war on terror, surely puts her in contention for the runner-up position.”
Click here to read Michelle Cottle on John Thune’s new P.R. push.
Click here to read Christopher Orr on Bill Kristol’s support for Sarah Palin.
Click here to read Michelle Cottle on Liz Cheney’s appearance on Morning Joe.
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COMMENTS (1)
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Fun Folly
Is there any way to measure the viability of a candidate (at the end of a president's first year) from the opposition party? It seems that it's been a curse in either party when a candidate was leading the field, three years out. Reagan may have been the exception but he didn't surrender after '76 and wasn't starting from scratch. If I was going to take on Obama I'd lay low until I saw what message was sent by the mid-terms.
It's probably not possible to guess the best position let alone the key issues for another year.
Anyone who is smart would let the hopefuls battle it out for a year and come back to remind them where they were wrong.
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Fun Folly
Is there any way to measure the viability of a candidate (at the end of a president's first year) from the opposition party? It seems that it's been a curse in either party when a candidate was leading the field, three years out. Reagan may have been the exception but he didn't surrender after '76 and wasn't starting from scratch. If I was going to take on Obama I'd lay low until I saw what message was sent by the mid-terms.
It's probably not possible to guess the best position let alone the key issues for another year.
Anyone who is smart would let the hopefuls battle it out for a year and come back to remind them where they were wrong.
Jumping into the fray this early will be asking for trouble. Appearing on a short list isn't bad, unless the person takes it seriously and attempts to carve out a position.
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