I don’t doubt for a second that Fred Thompson has the ability to be a credible presidential candidate. The Big Three candidates in the Republican field are surprisingly weak, the base and the establishment are looking for a credible alternative, and Thompson appears ready to fill a void. Whether he’s able to deliver remains to be seen, but it’s hardly a stretch to think his chances of getting the GOP nomination are about as good as any of the party’s top candidates.
That said, Thompson’s base of support is perhaps the quintessential cult of personality. Consider this gem from Rep. Zack Wamp (R-Tenn.), one of Thompson’s boosters on the Hill.
“We need a president of the United States after the 2008 election who will rise above the partisan challenges … That person is 6 foot 6. He has a commanding voice. He has a commanding presence. He makes people feel secure. He makes us feel confident. He is slow to act but he is resolute. He is the kind of leader innately that the United States needs today.”
If there’s a more inane basis for supporting a presidential candidate, I can’t think of it.
Thompson is tall, therefore he can “rise above” partisanship? He has a deep voice, so we’ll “feel” secure? Please. I might expect such talk from a 12-year-old with a crush on a movie star, but Wamp is a member of Congress. Show a little pride, man.
I was particularly struck by his use of the word “innately.” Thompson, apparently, is “the kind of leader innately that the United States needs today.” Putting aside the awkward grammar and sentence structure, Wamp appears to be arguing that Fred Thompson is the right man for the presidency because, well, he’s Fred Thompson.
Here’s Kathryn Jean-Lopez with a similar assessment.
Romney and Thompson will wind up in the same administration–one of them as president, the other as … something important and influential. It’s a relatively fearless prediction because I’m not making any public bet on who comes out on top. But they strike me as leaders. I think they probably both get it — conservatism, the war, what’s important in life (including life). And they both probably have the interest of the country seriously weighing on their minds. As do their families. They both strike me as good men who believe in a lot of the same things and neither is particularly keen on attacking the other. They both will have very good people who will work for them — and conservative people at that. If Romney and Thompson are what it comes down to for the GOP, that will be a good thing for America.
Thompson is “good.” He “gets it.” He’s a “leader.” Unlike those traitors, Thompson is one of those candidates with the “interest of the country” on his mind.
I mean, really. There’s hero-worship and then there’s hero-worship on The Corner.
I’ve seen some justified talk in progressive circles about Democratic candidates being based on a cult of personality, most notably Barack Obama. I find some of this fair, but I can’t think of the last time I heard an Obama supporter prattle with the kind of silly praise Thompson has been receiving. When Obama supporters, for example, talk about their candidate bringing people together, they don’t talk about his physical appearance, they talk about his record. It’s more than I can say for Zach Wamp.
It’s going to be a long campaign.