I'd love to see a charismatic moderate Republican give it a shot and make it a good race in 2012.
I don't have a clue who that would be. It is an oxymoron given today's GOP. No moderate will win over the base.
I think you're jumping the gun a little here. There are plenty of minefields that could easily blow up over the next four years, both domestically and internationally. And it won't matter that the Bush admin laid down most of the mines, the Obama admin will get the blame for the explosions, whatever they may be. It is easier to run as a "blank slate" on which people can project their wishes than it will be to run on avery scrutinized record, as he will have to do in '12.
But, on the positive side of the ledger, I am confident that Obama knows this, sees the challenges, and will focus on preventing serious blowups. He has a group of very intelligent and experienced advisers on the domestic and economic front, and of the ones that I have at least some knowledge of, they have integrity, which is obviously just as important. His speech on Tuesday night was a great beginning--it wasn't triumphalist, it wasn't boasting, it was somber. He threw out a lot of cliches pulled from past speeches, but crimmeny, what can anyone expect after what this guy has been through over the past 2 years. I can't wait for his inaugural speech. That should be a wonderful speech. He clearly has learned political rhetoric from both Lincoln and King, and I don't think that there are better teachers in American history than those two for political speech. |
