David Plouffe says that any moderate or centrist Republican who is thinking of running for president should have their head examined. I know what he means. No moderates need apply to the current Republican Party. Making the attempt would be an effort in futility and wasted time and money. But, Plouffe is wrong. Any centrist Republican who has the profile and connections to make a serious run should have their head examined if they don’t make the effort. No, they almost definitely won’t win any primaries or caucuses, but that’s not why they should run.
I’d love to see Lincoln Chafee or Olympia Snowe or Colin Powell or Larry Wilkerson or even Bob Barr make a run for the presidency. What would their platform be? To stand up on that stage with all the other Republicans and tell the goddamned truth. Tell the truth about Bush. Tell the truth about the deficit and what caused it. Tell the truth about who is a socialist and who isn’t. Tell the truth about Fox News. Just go in there and tell the truth in debate after debate and forum after forum.
Why should they do it? Because the truth is so desperately needed. The biggest crisis facing this county isn’t jobs or terrorism. The biggest crisis is our inability to deal with our problems because one party is completely dishonest and delusional, and they have the power to obstruct everything.
One candidate who is willing to run and who is willing to tell the truth with relentless consistency would do more good than an ugly campaign of hate and demagoguery could ever hope to accomplish. Anyone who can do it and decides not to just because they won’t win needs to have their head examined.
