By J.B. Williams
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
For a well-known and previously well-liked southern gentlemen and respected former U.S. senator, who is not yet officially in the race for the White House, Fred Thompson sure is drawing a lot of unfriendly fire from both sides of the political aisle. Clearly the man both sides see a need to derail is Fred Thompson, which must mean, he is seen as the man to beat in '08, at least in the minds of the other candidates.
An old friend once told me, when you stand with your head above the crowd, you had better be ready to catch all the rotten tomatoes. Fred's not only a head above the crowd physically, but it seems idealistically too. And here come those tomatoes…
Let me see if I can remember all the reasons why we're not supposed to support Fred Thompson for president… according to politicos across the political spectrum.
• He's too old (64)
• He has cancer
• He lacks political experience, or, he's a Washington insider
• He's been both bachelor and family man, twice
• He's too conservative, or, not conservative enough
• He likes pretty women, though not the same way Bill Clinton does
• He's too tough on abortion, but not tough enough for some
• He's a national security hawk, or, maybe a globalist dove
• He's a political nobody, or, a respected member of the Council on Foreign Relations
• He was a Washington lobbyist, though by all accounts, an underpaid one
• He's just a TV prosecutor, or, a real prosecutor who often plays himself on TV
• He was a Watergate Nixon insider, or, he was a leading Watergate prosecutor
• Nixon thought he was a dunce, until the dunce forced Nixon to resign the Oval Office
Political pundits and campaign war rooms have carefully investigated Thompson and so far, this is what they have come up with as their reasons for which Thompson shouldn't be the next president. Of course, politicos see all things in stark contrast, left-wing versus right-wing only. Left-wing pundits say he's too far right and of course, right-wing pundits say he's too far left.
What pundits tend to forget is that more than 80 percent of Americans are neither right-wing nor left-wing. These extreme partisan positions are reserved for political pundits and the politicians they aim to promote, or assassinate, as the case may be.
But most Americans see both politicians and their paid pundits as useless wing-nuts, - which explains why both the Republican White House and the Democrat congress are equally unpopular among average Americans today. Both are no more than just right-wing and left-wing political junkies, busy double-talking and back-stabbing on behalf of themselves, not the American people.
In this way, the above list is more than just a list of reasons not to support Thompson. It might be the list of reason why so many Americans are supporting Thompson, on both sides of the political aisle.
Although Thompson has been drafted into the '08 race by the disenchanted (read disenfranchised) conservative base of the Republican Party, strong signs are emerging that many Democrat voters are now favoring Thompson as well. That's why Howard Dean himself is worried enough about Thompson to be personally engaged in his political assassination before he even tosses his hat in the ring.
For the first time since Reagan, a president might be elected by both Republicans and Democrats. People finally fed up with partisan bickering, who are in search of an American president, not just a Republican or Democrat committee mouthpiece, appear to be more than slightly intrigued by Thompson.
Partisan committee elite types don't get that most Republicans are right of social liberal Rudy Giuliani, but left of isolationist libertarian Ron Paul. Likewise, most Democrats are somewhere right of pure socialist Hillary Clinton, but left of - say - Democrat hawk Zell Miller.
This explains the temporary fascination with Barack Obama, who is trying to walk a tightrope down the center of his party. His blank rsum is making it tough for Hillary to attack because he hasn't been around long enough to complete more than the ID section of that rsum. Look for Al Gore to re-emerge once voters figure out that there's nothing in that fancy Gucci suit from Illinois.
Bottom line - true right-wingers and hardened left-wingers are equally disturbed by current campaign developments. That would be the 20 percent of America that lives, eats, sleeps and breathes politics, 10% hardcore leftists who want to dictate a socialist policy to the DNC and 10% extreme right-wingers who want to dictate an isolationist policy to the RNC.
As for the rest of America, the 80 percent of voters who are fed up with both partisan back-stabbing extremes that leaves their American agenda trapped between two constantly warring political factions, they're in search of someone to lead the nation towards an American agenda, not just a partisan agenda that keeps the country stuck in neutral in a perpetual power struggle.
Thompson, a plain spoken decent man who has made a living in the private sector through various respected professions, a man who has known success and failure - victory and disappointment - love and loss - how to be alone and how to run a family, might be just the ticket for Americans who can relate more to him than any career politician currently stinking up Washington DC.
For a change, the pundits might have it right, once you put all of their assertions together in one place.
Thompson appears neither too left nor too right, neither left-wing nor right-wing, but somewhere in between, depending upon which issue you care to consider. He appears to be just like most Americans, more certain about his love and respect for true American values and principles than any party power agenda.
I say appears because he has yet to announce or present his official platform. While the pundits are busy pretending to know "what Fred would do" for the benefit of their chosen candidates, the fact is that only Fred knows what Fred intends to do as president at this moment and until he announces and presents his platform, it will remain that way.
Since he continues to climb in the polls without running, it might be a while before he decides to announce. So far, letting the others defeat themselves seems a pretty good strategy from where I sit. A pretty cost efficient strategy too…wholly un-Washington like, which is another reason the pundits don't like him much. He's a bit of a wild card in their eyes…
If my tea leaves are correct, the very things that upset the Washington elite seem to excite the average American voter. Hell – Fred might win as a write-in at this point.
Democrats and Republicans seem to agree on one thing right now, - those pure partisan extremists who have been in Washington for eight years or more need to find a new career and make room for anyone willing to represent all Americans for a change.
We've sure tried it the pure partisan way and none of us like how that turned out. Any candidate that speaks to the 80% who are neither left nor right wing extremists is likely to be tough to beat in '08. Not being a career politician will help too.
Like him or not, Fred is just Fred. Fred is as American as apple pie and Chevrolet. The American people will have to elect such a man. And the Washington elite never will approve…especially the politicos at either extreme.
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