The theme for today appears to be that the Republican field of presidential candidates is lame. The party really is bereft of leadership. It lacks any true statesmen. They don’t even have anybody on the sidelines to come in at the last minute. Honestly, I don’t think we’ve seen a situation like this on the Republican side since 1964. Something similar happened to the Democrats in 1972 when Teddy Kennedy was too damaged by the Chappaquiddick tragedy to run. While George McGovern was a principled candidate who deserved to win, nominating a little known senator from South Dakota demonstrated that the Democrats were in a rebuilding cycle. In some ways, they were never the same party again. Watergate provided an illusory pulse of life to the party, but , in retrospect, it had lost its national viability. I think that is what is happening to the Republicans.
Obama’s reelection chances look very strong at the moment, but I think we’ll probably wind up with an accidental president in 2016. Both Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter were accidental presidents, thrust into power more by strange circumstance than their own merits. For that matter, the same can be said of Gerald Ford and, of course, Lyndon Johnson. Very few people predicted any of them would be president, and I don’t think anyone will accurately predict who will follow Obama into the White House.
I do feel confident that it won’t be anyone in the current field of Republican candidates. They really are monumentally lame.