Sure they will. [sarcasm off]
Posted on 08/16/2007 9:20:30 PM PDT by gpapa
When Fred Thompson finally announces his candidacy next month, it will be the closest thing to a successful draft of a presidential candidate in more than a half-century.
It isn't that the actor-turned-U.S. senator-turned-actor had to have his arm twisted to run. But Thompson did need to be convinced it would be more than a fool's errand, and he clearly was not planning on running for president until others sought him out.
The rest of the current White House aspirants, all of whom have been planning to run since at least the end of 2004, have been thinking about becoming president since they were in high school, if not kindergarten.
Whether Thompson turns out to be anything other than a historical footnote will be determined by what happens after he announces his candidacy, now expected Labor Day week.
But, by actually doing so, he will be the first White House hopeful to actually run because others convinced him to since Dwight Eisenhower returned to the United States in the spring of 1952 and won the presidency later that year.
Eisenhower, the architect of the D-Day invasion and the supreme commander of NATO, was serving in Europe in 1951 and early 1952. He had actually turned down the efforts of some Democrats to draft him as their presidential candidate in 1948.
Eisenhower agreed to run on the GOP banner in 1952 after he won the New Hampshire primary when supporters placed his name on the ballot without his permission.
The effort to convince Thompson to run was nothing as elaborate as the one that drafted Eisenhower, but these are far different times and the process is far more complex, expensive and time-consuming.
Friends, including former Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker (R-Tenn.), who has been Thompson's mentor over the years, began urging him to run early this year when none of the GOP candidates seemed to light a fire with grass-roots Republicans.
In fact, polls still show that many more Republicans than Democrats are unhappy with the current field of party candidates. Among those who express a preference, Thompson now consistently runs second behind former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani in both national polls and those in most states, although not the two early key tests -- Iowa and New Hampshire.
Actually, the attempt to draft Thompson was probably more like the one undertaken by the friends of Colin Powell to convince the then-former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to seek the 1996 GOP nomination.
But Powell, who would subsequently serve as President George W. Bush's secretary of state, had never run for political office. Despite the hype, he never seemed to be seriously considering running.
The other major unsuccessful attempt to draft a presidential candidate came in 1964, when then-former Sen. Henry Cabot Lodge, who at the time was serving as the U.S. ambassador to South Vietnam, won the New Hampshire Republican primary after friends ran a write-in campaign for him. But he, too, never became a full-blown candidate.
Although the surface similarities between Thompson and Eisenhower seem few -- Ike was a certified war hero, and Fred just played similar roles in the movies -- both have the benefit of being nonpolitical celebrities.
Moreover, just as many in the GOP have turned to Thompson this year out of disappointment with the current field, there was a similar sense among many Republicans in 1952 about the poor prospects in November for their candidates.
And -- as the specter of a Korean War that had dragged on too long hung over the country in 1952 -- today there is deep disenchantment about the continuing U.S. military presence in Iraq.
Yet that analogy is inexact. The Korean War was directed by a Democratic president, Harry Truman, who would eventually choose not to seek reelection in the face of polls that would have made his campaign difficult. Republican Eisenhower was able to capitalize on that public frustration with a war run by a Democratic president.
Today, the frustration is with a Republican president who will not be on the ballot. And Bush’s GOP affiliation will make it more difficult for someone such as Thompson to benefit politically from the widespread unhappiness in the country.
Only time will tell whether Thompson ultimately follows Eisenhower into the Oval Office, but already he has come further than anyone could have predicted just nine months ago.
Oh, they lit a fire, allright.
As in torches, pitchforks, tar and feathers against the RINOs wanting to take over the party.
Powell did seriously consider running. But after talking to George and Barbara Bush and getting to better understand the stress of the office, he declined. His reason was his dear wife. He didn’t want to put her through the hell of campaigning and then living in the big glass house. She has battled with depression and in a positive vein, she has put a public face on the illness and taught that there is hope.
If Republicans want a conservative to be the nominee in 2008, then FredT should be able to knock off Giuliani and Romney. McCain is his own worst enemy.
Eisenhower was more interested in being President than this article states. Ike was very much prepared to run for the Presidency and even though it appeared to be a draft in fact he used his time as a university president to prepare for a White House run.
Fred has several advantages. But this celebrity thing is a little silly. He is more a politico than an actor much as Ronald Reagan was by the time he ran. For example he spent more time getting Judge Roberts confirmed than working on his bit part on Law & Order.
Duncan Hunter? Don’t make me laugh.
I agree with your assessment about Fred. I think labeling him as an actor is a lazy journalist’s attempt at ridicule. It doesn’t phase me.
There HAVE been actors who have worked for our national and state governments, served honorably in the military, and gave back to their country... Ronald Reagan chief among them. I find that inspiring. Anyone who truly gives of themselves should be commended.
People talk about public servants. Ted Kennedy often uses the phrase. I don’t see him, Gore, Kerry or Romney as public servants. I think they are in politics only for themselves.
At any rate... this is going to be an interesting election; if it ever gets here!
...zzzzzzz...
Fred lobbied for Aristide who supported having his dissidents draped with gasoline soaked tires which were then lit on fire. Nice work, Fred.
The Religious Right will balk when they see his trophy wife, too. Nice wife, Fred.
Sorry. I thought he would be a relief to the RINO’s the RNC is trying to push. Honestly, Huckabee, Hunter, and Ron Paul are the only three of the bunch I would trust, though I do like Tancredo, though not as a president.
Sure they will. [sarcasm off]
By the way welcome to Free Republic.
Gee. Thompson and Hunter as Prez and VP, or vice versa.
Imagine those two running together!
It might take that and more to overcome the current obstacles.
Yeah. I thought trophies were something you had stuffed and mounted on the wall.
Mr. Thompson is the epitome of the American Dream.
Wealthy (I assume) and successful in the business world, after a career in acting. (Most Hollyweirdos end up doing drugs and committing suicide or becoming recluses, locked into a fantasy world they manage to perpetuate around themselves with what money they have left, or on income from residuals)
Happily married, with children. She seems a younger woman, but, if they are truly happy (looks like they are), is that anyone’s business?
Maybe if people investigated the Clinton’s ‘marriage’ a little before they voted, our country would have been better off. Bill’s philandering was very well known in Little Rock, as well as Hillary’s tolerance and cleanup work.
Fred’s best asset. Public recognition, and a feeling that this is someone you could trust.
Whether the character in his characterizations on TV is ‘the fluff’ or ‘the stuff’, I cannot say.
Those who know him personally can. Those are the people I would like to hear from.
He just seems to be a person who understands the difference between RIGHT and WRONG, and that is the kind of person we need to lead our country.
What a darling picture of Fred, Jeri, and their kids!
Since Jeri's not a 'trophy wife', I'm sure they won't have a problem. As for his lobbying for Aristide, he WAS elected by the people of Haiti, in supervised elections. No reason Fred's firm shouldn't lobby for him.
BTTT
Thanks for the reply.
Do a websearch on the practice Aristide endorsed, involving draping gasoline-soaked tires around people’s necks and lighting them on fire. Having been democratically elected seems a minor point vis a vis.
Thanks.
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