Hopefully Star Struck

Having come from a politics oriented family, I have been around it all my life. Sometimes I have even come close to being in politics and then I got a grip and ran the other way. There was always something a little creepy about it for me. Trading favors with a bunch of other people to get something that really needed to be accomplished made it seem so seedy. Also, I married a journalist. So, it seemed more fitting to be a [frustrated] observer rather than a direct participant. But along the way I have learned a great deal about American politics, the government and the law. Having working in all three branches of government I can tell you alot about what works and what doesn't and how politics drives it all. I have very strong opinions about many things. Knowing this much has its drawbacks. I have had an absolute inability to cast a vote for a presidential candidate for most of my adult life. I sure didn't vote for Carter, Clinton or GW; in each election I just skipped that box. So far in 2007, in the ranging field of candidates I was thinking that my nonparticipating trend would continue. (Sorry John McCain but you missed your window.) This is depressing, people!

But, there on the horizon is my ray of hope and he is chewing cigars and sipping bourbon in just the self confident, manly sort of way that exudes all the right pheromones to get my ballot puncher so excited any chad would be blown to oblivion (or the computer screen might short circuit with my very touch). Call me a groupie, but I must be viscerally attracted to macho actors for my hope stands 6'2" in the frame of Fred Thompson. The only thing that could be better than this would be if he were a woman. [Not because I am viscerally attracted to women, but because I think it is about time a worthy woman stepped in and straightened it all out.]




Fred is the kind of person who gets it. He is not afraid and is not in the game for political gain--he term limited himself out of the Senate. He is not beholden. He has a background that speaks loudly to his independence which is based upon sound reason. A commenter to a news story about his impending candidacy announcement compared him to Obama in terms of experience. Excuse me? That person has clearly not read his resume.

Fred is sort of like me. He has had experience in every branch of government and in the private sector. He (and his then wife) put himself through college and law school while raising a family. Hailing from Tennessee, he has a middle America appreciation for what is important. A moderate populist conservative he believes in the federalism defined by the states taking the lead. His razor sharp analytical skills cut to the crux of an issue and succinctly address it (his observations could actually fit into sound byte size). And he has a blog.

Also, like me, he has a side job. Surely his screen stardom is not quite at the same celebrity level as mine, a southwestern cookbook author, but that is his problem.

Best of all, he does not take himself too seriously-check out his video response to Michael Moore's tossing down the gauntlet for debate on the state of the Cuban medical community.

Unlike me he has tons of experience on international and global issues. He has an acute appreciation for context and history that seems to be at his fingertips (I can't remember most of what I know). Unlike me but like many people I know and therefore, most middle American of all, he has cancer. Most unlike me, he apparently likes kids, having started a second family not too long ago despite being a grandparent. [But this roots him securely in the next generation even though he belongs to the past generation.]

You can find his resume on Wikipedia, his blog and podcasts on ABC.com (which, by the way, is the rival network for his on screen work at NBC-showing you what a wizard at bipartisanship he can be). I highly recommend you check him out.