Interesting that lately I've been watching the political scene in sort a detached, analytical manner. Deeply disappointed by Republicans on the Immigration issue and dumbfounded by the antics of the Democrats, I've lost any hope for reason or common sense to prevail.
So instead, here are some of my suggestions for the outgoing President and those who want to be President when he leaves.
Bush only has one chance to salvage his presidency, and that's a miracle in Iraq. The miracle has to be in the form of a great success with his surge and actual progress in stabilizing a US-friendly government there. Problem is, even if the surge becomes a resounding success, we'll never get to hear about it, because the Bush-haters between congress and the news media are way to deeply invested in failure.
Hillary can win if she succeeds at shutting up those who mention her personal inconvenient truths. You know, her baggage from the years she spent with Bubba in the White House. Like the travel office firings, the Whitewater billing records, Vince Foster, the FBI Files, HillaryCare. Stuff like that.
Oh yeah, she's already succeeded. Nobody is talking about that stuff. So she wins, unless Obama can knock her off.
Speaking of Obama, all he has to do is say something really good. So far, he's an empty suit, but is doing well partly because of that. He needs to verbalize some bold plan for something or other that nobody else has, but can get people excited.
I don't know what that is, but it might not matter. The media are drooling over both Obama and Hillary, and don't really care which one wins - as long as one of them wins. Probably both, because I think the Dems will end up with a Hillary/Obama ticket.
The rest of the Democrat candidates are window dressing.
On the Republican side, Rudy could wrap it up with a simple strategy: He should clearly define his stance on the two big social issues he's on the wrong side of the party on - abortion and gay marriage. If he suddenly does an about-face on those issues (ala Romney), nobody will believe him. But if he tells everyone something like he can't force abortion law to be changed himself, but will use the bully pulpit as president to educate women and encourage alternatives to abortion, it could go a long way. On gay marriage, hmm, I think he's got a problem there.
Romney just has to get past the Mormon thing. I think that instead of running away from the issue, he should take it head-on and challenge those who want to make it an issue. He needs lots of prime-time publicity letting everyone know that his religious faith will influence him no more and no less than the faith of any president before him. Those who keep hammering him on it should put up or shut up.
Fred Thompson has a great opportunity. When he gets in the race, he has to personify the image he currently has as a common-sense, no-nonsense guy. Like Reagan, he can draw on his acting talents to project a straight-shooter that never backs down on his principles. But also like Reagan, he can somehow make his critics and enemies with nowhere to go by meeting their attacks head-on.
If Fred does it right, I think he might be the only Republican who can beat Hillary/Obama. Or I could just be fantasizing.
McCain's already done because of Immigration. And nobody else has a chance, even if there are a couple of them that deserve one. Because the Media chooses the candidate, not the rest of us.
By the time Indiana has primaries next summer, the choices will have already been made. So I'll only be a spectator anyway.
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