“I want to thank the people of Iowa who were welcoming and supportive as well as my volunteers and contributors from around the country,” Mr. Thompson said in the statement. “I have no regrets about running. I felt my record as Governor of Wisconsin and Secretary of Health and Human Services gave me the experience I needed to serve as President, but I respect the decision of the voters. I am leaving the campaign trail today, but I will not leave the challenges of improving health care and welfare in America.”
I saw an interview with him last night in which he mentioned how hard he had worked in Iowa at what he thinks he does best, retail politics, but the votes just were not there, so he decided it was time to quit. By doing so, he has now passed my mother’s only political test. Allow me to elaborate.
My mother hates politics. She hates the bickering, she hates the whining, she generally dislikes politicians. She also does not understand the naked ambition, nor does she respect it (“Anyone who wants to be President is insane, and I think we should avoid electing insane people” – Mother Balloon Juice). As such, she has one general political rule- we should try to elect people who don’t really want to be elected that much. Tommy Thompson, by recognizing reality and calling it quits when others fail to do the same (John McCain, call your office), makes hi, in a bizarre way, more qualified for the job than many others in the field.
Zifnab
I don’t know. I can’t help but think that if you can’t win an election, you probably don’t belong in politics.
However, by your own definition, I can’t help but think Mrs. Cole is a giant Al Gore enthusiast. *snickers* I’ve yet to see a man work harder not to run for President. Maybe Gore has a hint of your mother’s wisdom after all.
Teak111
I have a similar theory and as a result always wanted to see Colin Powell run, even today, he would be formatable. But he don’t want to. Still licking his wounded credibility and tinkering with Volvos.
kchiker
Yeah, if (s)he really has no natural interest in anything but the title…basically wants to be on vacation all summer and doesn’t want dirty hands with the specifics or wonkery…I’m sure (s)he’d make a GREAT president.
Oh wait….
Bruce Moomaw
She isn’t the first one to point out that — in a political version of Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle — anyone who indicates that he strongly wants the job has immediately indicated his lack of qualification for it. H.L. Mencken suggested picking people at random out of the phone book to run the country for that reason; and in the 6th Narnia book (retelling the origin of the place), Aslan picks a guy as its first king precisely because he ISN’T confident he’s qualified for it. Unfortunately, there never seems to be an Aslan around when you need one.
I also remember thinking, while listening to Dole’s 1996 concession speech, that if he’d campaigned the way he conceded he never would have needed to concede.
tBone
The Douglas Adams version is a crazy guy who lives in a shack and talks to his cat. Sounds like an improvement over the current situation to me.
Jake
I could make a snarky comment about John Cole and his siblings. But I won’t.
Bruce Moomaw
Good, because doing so would be rather like making a snarky comment about the residents of Pompeii for taking a negative view of lava.
Psycheout
Tommy Thompson did keep his promise. Good for him.
Fred F.
I’ve yet to see a man work harder not to run for President.
Gingrich is doing a fairly good job of that. Unlike Gore, both whom desperately want to be President, Gingrich is actually placing his toe in the water every few weeks just too see if he has the balls to go all the way in. Gore I think realized it’s just easier not to try and was hoping Hillary would implode with out a strong contender to pick up the pieces, Obama took that away from him.
craigie
I’m going to keep saying this until I get my way: anyone who wants to be in charge, should be disqualified. Politicians shouldn’t be elected, they should be assigned, like jury duty.