Fred Thompson = John Glenn?
by Ryan Sager
Thu, 3 May 2007 at 1:30 PM
updated Thu, 3 May 2007 at 1:38 PM
Over at ThePhoenix.com, columnist Steve Stark makes an argument that might get up the dander of Fred Heads: Fred Thompson is less like Ronald Reagan than former astronaut John Glenn.
In short, Mr. Stark argues that while Ronald Reagan had already been the leader of the conservative movement for more than a decade by the time he made his 1980 run, Mr. Thompson is a celebrity candidate who could fizzle quickly, like Mr. Glenn did on the Democratic side in 1984.
I think it's a pretty plausible argument, and it captures a good amount of what's bothered me about the Thompson boomlet (is it just a boom now? is it time to lose the "let"?) so far:
Thompson may, in fact, have something to say. The truth is that no one knows if that's the case. Yet it is this lack of knowledge that has allowed so many to put their faith in Thompson. He is the proverbial blank slate. To be sure, sometimes blank slates, once they're filled in, turn out to be every bit as promising as anticipated. But not often.
The part of the Reagan story that Thompson's followers conveniently leave out is that even Reagan had to run for president twice before he succeeded. It took a long time for Reagan to become Reagan.
Mr. Thompson may well make a great candidate. But a rather unsuccessful and brief career in the Senate hardly stacks up against the resumes of the other Big Three contenders. And this is a year when I suspect resumes will be important.
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