Stark Ravings

He ain’t heavy. . .

By STEVEN STARK | November 19, 2007

A Democrat (other than Hillary) could also give a speech in defense of Romney — even though, on the surface, it may seem strange for Democrats to broach the issue at all. Take John Edwards. If he’s for the little guy, a victim of religious prejudice is certainly a “little guy” — even if that victim is worth millions. The most obvious aspirant, though, should be Barack Obama: here’s a candidate who has spent the whole campaign talking about how he’s different and wants to bring Americans of different persuasions together. What better way to demonstrate that than detailing how he understands firsthand the meaning of prejudice?

What’s most discouraging, of course, is that we don’t seem to have anyone in the field who views attacking religious prejudice as the proper — or, for that matter, a politically sensible — thing to do. An unfortunate consequence of this lengthy campaign — and its intensive press coverage — is that it’s turned most of the candidates into risk-averse robots, afraid of doing anything unconventional for fear of making a mistake. But great candidates and leaders — whether we’re talking about FDR or Reagan — always rewrite the rule book.

Needless to say, we’re going to need a leader like that in 2009. Too bad that on this key test — and it’s not a difficult one compared with what lies ahead for the eventual winner — the entire field gets a failing grade.

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He ain’t heavy. . .

Anyone interested in a funny (but it really happened) column about what Huckabee is really like face-to-face should try: http://goupstate.us/index.php/lanefiller/2007/11/02/title_14

By lanefiller on 11/20/2007 at 9:35:06

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