zenpundit.com

I’m really surprised that I have not seen or read more about the fact that the major candidates for the presidency are all members of the world’s most exclusive club. Our last presidents to be elected directly from service in the United States Senate were Democrat John F. Kennedy and Republican Warren G. Harding. Neither man’s record as Chief Executive is likely to inspire confidence in the Senate as a training ground for future commanders-in-chief.

The Senate was intended by the Framers of the constitution to be the repository of the Republic’s wisdom – or at least it’s elder statesmen that the states saw fit to send to Washington. A saucer, to cool the hot-tempered passions that periodically engulf democracies until common sense and experience can prevail. Time has a different speed in the Senate chamber, one set to a more courtly age and the Senate has killed far more legislation by it’s tempo than by filibusters or votes.  Senators, by habit of legislative mind and capacious ego are institutional relics of the deference society that once prevailed in the colonial period and in the antebellum South. Accustomed to relative splendor and the exercise of authority without much in the way of responsibility, senators are better suited to be members of the British high aristocracy of the 18th century – say an Earl or Viscount – than a modern administrator or leader.

The managerial incapacity is amply demonstrated by the fact that senators, excepting the aforementioned JFK, invariably run poorly organized, gaffe-prone, presidential campaigns.  In the last half-century, we have seen John Kerry, Bob Dole, George McGovern and Barry Goldwater go down in electoral flames in the general election, two by epic landslides.  Senator Dole has the distinction of losing twice on the national ticket and two other occasions in the primaries, which may be some kind of record ( see Richard Ben Cramer’s fantastic What It Takes: The Way to the White House). In the same period, four Vice-Presidents who were former senators – Richard Nixon, Hubert Humphrey, Walter Mondale and Al Gore – also went down to defeat and the one who managed to win the presidency, Nixon, did so narrowly against Humphrey. Nixon’s campaign skills may have made the grade only through sheer practice, brutally hard work and the bizarre circumstances of a chaotic, three-way contest in 1968. 

In the current contest, Senator McCain prevailed, despite an uneven political record, over a wealthy empty suit and a goofily named hillbilly to claim the Republican nomination. Senator Clinton, once the presumed nominee, presided over a tone-deaf campaign marred by savage infighting and counterproductively grandstanding antics by former president Bill Clinton. Senator Obama coasted on charisma, eloquence, symbolism and the genius of David Axelrod until the Rev. Wright eruption sidetracked his escalating momentum. Obama will go into the general election facing far more intense media scrutiny, under the shadow of an unfolding Illinois scandal involving his former patron, political fixer Antonin “Tony” Rezko, which is likely to engulf other Democratic politicians here, notably Governor Rod Blagojevic.

Are any of these candidates ready for prime time ?

This entry was posted on Friday, April 18th, 2008 at 1:58 am and is filed under 2008, America, elections, politics, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.