Anybody — anybody at all — for President
It’s somehow fitting that Gerald Ford died just a couple of days before John Edwards’ announcement that he’s running (again) for president. Ford was the accidental president — someone who was never elected president or vice-president, and whose lasting accomplishment was proving with a pardon that there are indeed two levels of the law: one for the president, and one for the rest of us. I used to wonder if the Republicans so outraged by Clinton’s lying under oath (as I was) ever stopped to realize that this was where the two-tiered view of presidential justice began.
Where Ford was accidental, Edwards made a fortune in litigating large settlements out of accidents. In the abstract, I’m glad that we have a system that allows for injury claims, and I view this as part of our system of checks and balances. In practice, neither this nor one term as a senator qualifies one to be president. (Especially when just two years ago one was a vice-presidential nominee and provided zero assistance to the ticket — including in one’s home state.)
While I’m on the subject, I am as enchanted as everyone else with Barack Obama’s speeches. But my view of leadership involves making hard choices in the face of adversity and often against the headwind of public opinion. If fellowship and togetherness are your panacea, what remedy do you have when not everyone in the world wants to hold hands and sing Kumbaya?