Friday, November 16, 2007

Lou Dobbs thinking about running for president

An article in the Wall Street Journal by John Fund says that CNN’s Lou Dobbs is thinking about running for president.

Friends of Mr. Dobbs say he is seriously contemplating a race for the first time, although it's still unlikely. They spin a scenario under which the acerbic commentator would parachute into the race if Michael Bloomberg, the New York billionaire and favorite of East Coast elites, enters the field as an independent. With Hillary Clinton continuing to score badly in polls in the categories of honesty and integrity, and with the public's many doubts about Rudy Giuliani and other GOP contenders, Mr. Bloomberg may well see an opportunity to roil the political waters by entering the race late. If so, Mr. Dobbs then sees a niche for a "fourth-party" candidate who could paint the three other contenders as completely out of touch.

Nothing could more perfectly illustrate how people in the media think about political races and running for office. They think politics is a matter of personifying opinions. For that, after all, is all that Lou Dobbs offers – opinions. He has no experience in government or even in running a business. At least Ross Perot had experience as an executive who had accomplished something by managing people and an organization. Lou Dobbs only has experience expressing opinions. If elected president Lou Dobbs would be in the position of having to work with a Congress in which no one was of his political party or owed him anything. The idea that campaigns and elections are how we select our leaders has been lost on these people who think elections are how we express our opinions.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was just thinking about Dobbs and the possibility he'd run for office. After all, he's spent the last few years just bashing those in office. And as I pondered it, I realized that all Dobbs does is criticize.

Dave Barrett said...

Hi huck,
Thanks for the comment. I miss your blog. Any chance that you might start it up again?

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Dave. I'd love to get back in the game, but unfortunately it won't be soon. I'm simply too distracted. I wish I had the time, the focus, the means, and the freedom to do it right.

The passion is there, but I need the rest of the pieces to come together.

When the time comes, I'll pick it back up and run. Until then, I'll just continue to lurk and to comment on the blogs I do get to enjoy--such as this one.