Sometimes validation can come from unusual sources. In this case, here's a link to an article by CNN's Lou Dobbs, whose exposition of our current lack of national leadership is pretty well on the mark.
Lou Dobbs - The November Surprise
His points have been mentioned on this blog repeatedly. While problems creep up on America, our politicians fight for their chance to play Nero's fiddle. That's where the validation ends, though.
He goes on to say that he thinks that an independent candidate will rise to capture the imagination of the voters, make the current Republican and Democratic candidates look like hyenas and run away with the White House. In this regard, he's wrong for a couple of reasons.
First, while things on the surface appear bad now, with some foreign policy concerns, the continuing fighting in Iraq and a souring economy, conditions are really no worse than previous moments when independents ran. In 1992, the economy was in an actual free fall, where today we're just worried about the possibility. In 1980, the economy was horrible, the Soviet Union had invaded Afghanistan and numerous Americans were being held hostage in Iran.
In 1992, Ross Perot ran as an independent against massively unpopular President George H.W. Bush and unknown Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton and still only gained 18.9 percent of the vote and failed to win any electoral votes. In 1980, Illinois' John Anderson won just 7 percent of the vote in 1980 and did not win a single precinct in the entire country. Mathematically, how does it get done?
Secondly, who? The only independent ever mentioned who actually has the resources to run like Perot did is Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York, and he's ruled out a candidacy. And he's really a liberal Democrat who ran as a Republican so he could win office. Not exactly the sort of personal integrity people are looking for these days.
There really seems to be no one else.
Lastly, Dobbs is entirely dismissive of the current crop of candidates. Generally dismissive is a correct assessment. Entirely? I'm not sure. Someone, though, is going to have to address our issues head-on and speak clearly, and -- Hillary -- not waffle on key questions of the day. There might not be anyone to capture our imagination out there, but if a candidate can claim our intellect, he might get our vote.
Still and all, it's nice to see that someone out there in the national media is getting it regarding the failures of our national government. We're up to Dobbs, who has angered most elite opinion-makers with his stance on illegal immigration, and broadcast talk show host Glenn Beck, who is the first to admit that he's nuts. Hey, it's a start!
