Fred Thompson: Another White, Male Look-Alike in the Republican Race

By Brigitte L. Nacos
Fred Thompson took a page out of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s playbook by declaring his candidacy for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination on NBC’s Tonight Show with Jay Leno. But what seemed at the time a clever and new setting for movie star Schwarzenegger, who was determined to avoid tough questions by the mainstream news media as he declared his candidacy for California’s highest office on a Hollywood-based show, was a less appropriate venue for making the entry into a presidential race official. In the New York Times Susan Saulny writes, “It is perhaps no coincidence that several of Mr. Thompson’s main communications strategists also worked on Mr. Schwarzenegger’s campaign, similarly re-introducing an actor as a serious political contender. The talk-show setting in Los Angeles allowed Mr. Thompson to capitalize on his pop-cultural appeal as an actor and simultaneously reinforce his contention that he is a Washington outsider — although he lives in a suburb of the capital and worked extensively there as a lobbyist when not in the Senate.” What pop-cultural appeal? As the grumpy-looking district attorney Arthur Branch, Thompson has only a very minor role in the “Law & Order” television series. If former Schwarzenegger communications strategists talked Mr. Thompson into following into Arnold’s footsteps, what does that tell us about the candidate’s leadership abilities for the highest office in the land? And if Thompson wanted to avoid tough questions, what does it tells us about this presidential candidate’s agenda and his ability to explain it to voters?

Translating celebrity into electoral strength is nothing new. Ronald Reagan is the best example, Schwarzenegger and Jesse Ventura others. But unlike those show business celebrities, Thompson looks away from the television screen as grumpy and solitary as the guy he portrays in Law & Order. As Howard Kurtz writes in the Washington Post of his appearance on the Tonight Show,

“Thompson was casual and folksy as he made the declaration, but seemed to me a bit rambling and low-key for a man accustomed to memorizing his lines. He made a couple of mild jokes, but mostly kind of ambled his way into the race. One thing I found off-putting: He barely glanced at Leno, playing instead to the camera, but didn't look directly into the camera either, instead sort of gazing into space. It was, to be candid, a flat performance [emphasis added]….”

As the Washington Post’s The Trail notes, when Leno asked Thompson, whether he was starting to get “wrinkly” from “testing the waters” for so long, Thompson replied ‘these wrinkles aren't from water." This speaks to the fact that with Thompson another old, white male has joined the eight look-alikes and the seven speak-alikes (Representative Paul is the only one with a different agenda—most obviously with respect to the Iraq war) already in the Republican race. On the most important issue facing the country, Thompson told Leno and the Tonight Show audience that we should stay in Iraq until we get the job done. Just as the participants in the New Hampshire debate did not reveal what exactly “victory” and “winning” means in Iraq, Thompson did not elaborate. He warned of the threats posed by Al-Qaeda, Hezbollah and Iran, but he did not say how he would deal with those threats.

While it is hard to imagine how Thompson can bring excitement into the Republican electorate and beyond, I would not bet against his ability to become a factor in the Republican race—not since I heard several Republicans evaluate him as “the complete package” contrary to what they felt about the other leading candidates in the field. 

Comments

[Brigitte]

Tony:
Of course, you are right. Especially those who disagree with the current administration should know that they will inherit many difficult problems and that there is a great likelihood that they will be blamed in the end for whatever cannot be cleaned up. It will be a no win situation for any of the Democrats. The viable Republican candidates leave no doubt that they want to continue on Bush's so-called war on terrorism path. They seem not to perceive any problems ahead.
Having said this, I am increasingly unhappy with Democrats. I agree with Krugman's column in yesterday's NYT: The Democrats in Congress (and all those running for the presidential nomination of the Democratic Party) must not compromise with Republicans on Iraq for fear of being labeled anti-military. They will be one way or the other. They were elected to vote for real change--especially with respect to the Iraq war. And even though they cannot overturn a sure presidential veto, they should stand up for what they themselves and the majority of Americans want.

[Tony]

Brigitte, you raise some compelling questions, as usual. I have one question- why do all these candidates want to inherit one of the worst messes in modern history? Do they actually think that politics-as-usual is the answer? ex. Giuliani said the other day that Palestine shouldn't become a state yet,(because they haven't demonstrated a willingness to fight terrorism), while he supports Israel, the crux of the Palestinian problem since Lord Balfour issued his declaration. What we really need now is a reincarnation of T.E. Lawrence in the ME, and the disamalgamation of Iraq into its former components a la the British mandate. Thompson's phraseology "til the job's done" sounds just like an ad for Chevy trucks, or something. But voting habits won't change until the draft is reinstated, and the college children wake up. The 9/11 outrage is now expressed in terms of whether WABC will read all the victims' names. Can we also request the reading of the names of the brave soldiers who died in the subsequent wars (Iraq and Afghanistan)? Where are the priorities? We are in dire need of substantive change, immediately!

[david]

I agree whole-heartedly that Mr. Thompson picked the wrong venue to announce. And it hardly works against the stereotype that you're lazy to dodge another debate and then announce right after in one of the easiest venues in the world. How are so many people so excited about this guy?