>>>>>>So why, all of a sudden, now?
>>>>>
>>>>>That's an excellent question. He should have let the "controversy" rage as long as possible. Let the birthers waste their time on something known to be completely harmless.
>>>>
>>>>I bet if they thought Trump could ride it to the nomination they would have <bg>
>>>
>>>The Republican field is still a joke. Trump? Unelectable. Palin? Unelectable. Romney, Gingrich, on and on, unelectable. Maybe one of the little-knowns will emerge. The only one I take seriously at all is Mike Huckabee. I have a lot of respect for him even though we disagree right down the line on the issues. He is smart, has a sense of humor, and even plays the guitar. But I don't think any evangelical can win a general election. The social agenda will scare off way too many moderates and liberals.
>>
>>Pretty much agree with all that, except I'm not sure about Romney. Huckabee seems like somebody it would be nice to know, but I don't think he has a prayer ( you'll forgive the expression) Some big heavy hitter from business or the military would be nice, but I don't see anybody in those fields as wanting it or willing.
>>
>>Unfortunately we are limited to professional politicians - which in my mind makes most of them undesirable from the get-go. True for both parties.
>>We get to vote for the "least unqualified"
>
>If they could be drafted, would there be any hope for any ex-Bush admin types e.g. Rice or Powell?
There was a lot of excitement about Colin Powell a couple of elections ago. He decided he wasn't going to run, reportedly at his wife's urging. She thought that at as the first black President he might well be assassinated.
That's a thought that has not left my mind, BTW, now that we actually have one. There are a lot of crazies in this country and they get more nutso by the day. There has been an unhinged reaction to Obama right from the start. I'm not saying everyone who doesn't like him is a racist or a potential assassin but there is room for reasonable concern. If it happens, don't expect me to act surprised.
This thought must be implanted in my brain today because when I reordered "The Best and the Brightest" earlier I chased a couple of links and found myself at Taylor Branch's magisterial biography of Martin Luther King. The first volume, "Parting the Waters", won the Pulitzer Prize and doesn't need any boosterism from me. IMO the three volume series demonstrates the power of writing a biography which is placed in the context of the times. Robert Caro's equally epic series about LBJ -- who he doesn't like much more than Charles does -- is the only thing else that comes to mind. It's interesting that they overlap, America in the 1960s. They knew each other, obviously, and neither completely trusted the other.
Links to first volumes only, for those with a liking of history books that read like novels --
http://www.amazon.com/Parting-Waters-America-Years-1954-63/dp/0671687425/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1304022929&sr=8-1http://www.amazon.com/Path-Power-Years-Lyndon-Johnson/dp/0679729453/ref=sr_1_1_title_0_main?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1304023004&sr=1-1And a few clips --
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0FiCxZKuv8http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbUtL_0vAJkhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmOBbxgxKvoOne of the most memorable passages in Taylor Branch's book is about a sermon MLK gave as a young preacher in Atlanta. He was not known at the time outside the local community. It said his words moved the congregation to passion. He was 26 years old, the passage concluded, and had not quite 13 years to live.
Revisiting the recent conversation, I think there have been three great American public figures: George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Martin Luther King.
