Paging Harry Truman
So we've got Fred Thompson still flirting, dipping his toe in the pool, formally "exploring" and sort of going steady with the idea of running for president. We've got Newt Gingrich still wondering if the political climate calls for his candidacy – sort of a "I'm still seeing other people" with a presidential run. What's going on? Bloomberg? Gore? Hello?
It's been noted by better minds than I that the presidential candidacy game has gotten out downright bizarre – if you're a politician, you say you're thinking about it; you say you're gonna announce soon; then you announce. It's the political equivalent of rinse, lather, repeat. I doubt that I was the only American who saw Bill Richardson's official announcement and responded: "He wasn't running already?"
But it makes you wonder: How, in a world where we expressly don't like our politicians to listen to polls or be political windsocks – blowing this way today and the other tomorrow – have we come to allow potential candidates to be so nakedly calculating? We've come a very long way from Harry S Truman's famous words:
How far would Moses have gone if he had taken a poll in Egypt? What would Jesus Christ have preached if he had taken a poll in the land of Israel? What would have happened to the Reformation if Martin Luther had taken a poll? It isn't polls or public opinion of the moment that counts. It's right and wrong and leadership.There's no way to expressly measure this, as it would doubtlessly get tangled up with "well, of course I don't respect the decision making process of that horrid Democrat" by conservatives and vice-versa, but it's tough to look at diminishing approval ratings for politicians and think this political footsie doesn't factor into that.
Sure sure sure, what we're seeing is the media game of getting as much press as possible for your candidacy. I get that. Why settle for one big splash when you can get three splashes, right? But maybe there's a way to, I don't know, get the media attention with the big announcement and then get more attention for holding press conferences and taking bold stances on key issues.
I can't imagine a time where we needed a "Give 'Em Hell" candidate more than now.