Fred Thompson Sounds Like A Media Novice

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Fred Thompson, the actor and presidential candidate, hasn't been wowing me so far.

I know, I know. This guy has been in the race for only one week, right?

Horse feathers. In the age of blogs and 24-hour cable channels, the media move way too fast for any candidate. If Thompson is willing to jump into the deep end of the pool, he had better know how to swim.

Thompson got a big buzz when he announced his candidacy on Jay Leno's couch. I thought he was shrewd to break the news there, ensuring that the political and Hollywood press would respond. Of course, the Beltway crowd was miffed that he broke the routine by going on a late-night talk show, even though every candidate eventually goes on them anyway.

You know something? For all of the media's checks and exposC)s on powerful people, we have a sneaky respect for someone who can take charge and show us who's the boss. But Thompson and his staff already appear to be on the defensive. He seems ill-informed on the issues. He leans toward rhetoric when not going through political clichC)s. He has been flip-flopping, too.

He sounds like a novice.

Take what has happened with Thompson's stance on Osama bin Laden, who predictably intruded on American life on the eve of the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. The terrorist released a video complete with a hateful, rambling diatribe.

Talking tough, Thompson originally had called for Osama's head on a stick. Then he seemed to change his position on this hot-button issue. Oops.

Realizing, perhaps, that he might sound as rash (and unrealistic) as President Bush did in the aftermath of Sept. 11, Thompson backtracked a bit. As the White House has discovered, finding and killing bin Laden is no slam dunk.

From Columbia, S.C., Michael Finnegan of the Los Angeles Times noted in his Sept. 11 piece: "After three days of saying that Osama bin Laden should be captured and killed, Thompson added the caveat Monday that the al Qaeda leader should also get 'due process.' Thompson's comment on bin Laden came as he attempted to quell the flap set off by a remark he made last week as he launched his candidacy in Iowa."

Raising the ante

In the crowded presidential field, Thompson's emergence raises the ante.

It will be interesting to see if journalists can resist the temptation to get all star-struck with the arrival of a genuine star like Thompson, who pleased audiences in his "Law & Order" and film-acting turns. Up to now, they've had to come to terms with the same, old made-to-order politicians who get better ratings on C-Span and "Meet the Press" than in prime time.

When it comes to the usual suspects like Hillary, Rudy, Barack and the rest of the gang, the correspondents in New Hampshire and Iowa and points in between might well be asking: "What have you done for me lately?"

For all of the hoopla and buildup surrounding the first truly wide-open race in decades, the candidates are so familiar that they can't help but seem a little passC).

The campaign strikes me as really dull. But there have been serious attempts to understand the candidates -- for instance, it's hard to imagine a better piece of written work than Peter Boyer's profile of Rudy Giuliani in the New Yorker earlier this year.

I wish every political journalist could read and reread Boyer's gem to understand what's important to voters as they decide who is fit to be the next president.

Answer on Iraq

As a voter who demands answers, I challenge the national correspondents to follow what they always press the politicians to do: stick to the issues and sidestep the personality angles in the campaign.

The American people are depending on writers, editors and producers to cut through the rhetoric. In this race, only one question really matters and it can't be asked enough for my sensibility: What is your strategy for Iraq?
That's it.

Historians may note that we're facing a time a lot like 1968 and the Vietnam War. The press and the broadcasters -- the all-encompassing term of "media" hadn't quite taken hold in American society -- fell down on the job of getting answers from candidates Richard Nixon and Hubert Humphrey.

Yes, other issues matter too. I care about the economy, the environment, immigration, homeland security and finding the culprits for the nation's subprime-finance fiasco.

But I don't care about the gossipy nonsense. I don't really need to know much about Giuliani's problems with his children.

I'm bored with Elizabeth Edwards' attacks on her husband John's foes. It's not a big deal whether Sen. John McCain's kids serve in combat.

Naturally, I'm intrigued by Bill Clinton's role in a Hillary administration, but much more interested in learning where she stands on Iraq. (Maybe the Washington media should write 500 times a blackboard: "Hillary would be the president, not Bill. Hillary would be the president, not Bill. ...")

I'm not all that curious to read armchair psychology about whether Thompson can convert his "Law & Order" popularity into good government.

Besides, if the first week of his campaign is any sort of sign, he'll be a Trivial Pursuit answer by Thanksgiving.

His views on Osama bin Laden were a bracing beginning to his aspirations. "Fred Thompson should know better," former North Carolina senator John Edwards said.

Let's face it. Things can't be going well when you have the likes of John Edwards doing a dance on your head.

MEDIA WEB QUESTION OF THE WEEK: How have the media done in covering Fred Thompson so far, a) brilliantly, b) fairly, c) unfairly or d) pathetically?

WEDNESDAY PET PEEVE: It stinks when journalists rip off their counterparts' work. It doesn't make your story any weaker when you do the right thing and give the proper credit. It makes you look sleazy. Your company also looks stupid because it's merely reprinting stuff that has appeared elsewhere.

READERS RESPOND: "Maria [Bartiromo] screeches like a parrot and Erin [Burnett's] constant giggling drives me nuts. As a CNBC viewer, I'd love to see both go to Fox and take that repulsive [Jim] Cramer with them." Preston Ivens

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By Jon Friedman