It’s Time to Get Serious: Thompson for President

 by George Shadroui  

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Why settle, when we have a full-fledged, tough and experienced conservative to turn to?

It’s been fun, as it always is, to watch the horserace that is the presidential primary season.
 
The media loves it. Political junkies love it. And even the candidates seem to enjoy their moments in the spotlight.
 
At the end of the day, however, it is probably the candidate who has least enjoyed it who is best suited to be the next president. In my view, that person is Senator Fred Thompson.
 
I know there are those who claim he has run a lackluster campaign. Perhaps, though my own take is different. I think he is a guy who got into the race a bit reluctantly, precisely because the meat market of trying to win is not the same as the art of governing. I think it says a lot about Thompson’s character that he finds the spectacle a bit distasteful and isn’t afraid to show it.
 
As best I can tell, that is the only reason anyone gives for supporting other candidates over Thompson. But let’s look at the others.
 
Giuliani craves notoriety and is a good politician, but his foreign policy experience is lacking and his political judgment is at best questionable. Would I vote for him against the major Democratic contenders? Sure, but why settle when we have a full fledged, tough and experienced conservative to turn to?
 
Huckabee is not a serious candidate to be commander-in-chief. Nice guy, smart politician, and no doubt a sincere man of faith, but he seems more like Jimmy Carter than Ronald Reagan.
 
Mitt Romney governed a small liberal state. So did Dukakis. Romney may be more qualified than anyone on the Democratic side, but personally I would like the next commander-in-chief to have some Washington-based experience and some familiarity with the good and bad of our defense establishment. We just had a president for two terms who had been a strong governor, but he depended too much on people who have mismanaged highly critical issues. We need a president who welcomes dissent and discussion, but is not afraid, at the end of the day, to make an informed decision.
 
That leaves only McCain as a serious contender on the Republican side. I like and respect McCain and we could do worse, despite his on and off love affair with the Democrats, but McCain brings nothing positive to the table that Thompson doesn’t bring, and in greater quantities.
 
Both men strike me as personally courageous, willing to take tough stands, not afraid to confront our enemies and more than capable of handling the media and the political and security issues they are sure to confront.
 
But Thompson is a real conservative with a real sense both of the opportunities and limits of government. He has the ability to mobilize people, stand his ground, articulate his point of view, and annunciate a clear vision. And though he has not quite gotten his rhythm on the campaign trail, he is still the candidate that the Democrats most fear.
 
How do I know this? Because the media has all but ignored him since he got in the race. They have clamored about all the other candidates to one degree or another, for one reason or another, but Thompson they avoid. There is a reason. The media wants a Democratic president, and I suspect their favorite is Ms. Clinton. Thompson is the one Republican who will overshadow her, not only because of his easy-going style and intelligence, but his gravitas. He is his own man and he handles reporters with an ease that the rest of the field must envy.
 
One simply can’t imagine Thompson getting overly rattled by Ms. Clinton or anyone else. He is comfortable in his own skin, is fully grown up, and fully capable of tackling the tough defense, security and domestic issues our nation faces.
 
It has been popular wisdom that governors make better presidents than Senators. Yet, consider this: four of our past five presidents have been governors, and the only one of them who was both consequential and successful was Reagan. Carter, Clinton and President Bush all struggled to lead effectively. Maybe the time has come to consider someone who knows Washington but also is not afraid to tame its appetite for scandal, corruption and inefficiency.

Thompson, who finished respectably in Iowa despite a late entrance and a media focused elsewhere, brings another strength to the table — the ability to wage a national campaign that appeals to all wings of the party. He can appeal to the Christian right (now with Huckabee), the Wall Street and corporate crowd (now with Romney and Giuliani) and independent minded conservatives.
 
When I scan the horizon, I see only one candidate who can straddle the party's diverse constituencies while facing down the Democrats and the media. For me, all issues and politics considered, it is Thompson, and the sooner the conservative electorate gets on the board, the better.

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