Is Mike Pence Presidential Timber?
Paul A. Rahe ·
Sep 23, 2010 at 6:11am
Mike Pence (R-Indiana) gave a talk at Hillsdale on Monday night, which I attended. His topic was “The Presidency and the Constitution”; and, as I report in a piece just posted on Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, it was genuinely impressive. Pence is a thoughtful, principled man – and I suspect that he may be planning a Presidential bid. He has one drawback: he has never held executive office -- and, as I argued in a series of posts archived here, this nearly always matters a great deal. He nonetheless bears close watching.
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Comments :
Jul '10
Re: Is Mike Pence Presidential Timber?
I think Pence lacks the "it" factor. I can't quite say what that is, but I know when it's missing. A fine head of hair, though.
Jun '10
Re: Is Mike Pence Presidential Timber?
Three presidents have not had any executive experience: Lincoln, Kennedy, and Obama. Lincoln struggled his way to greatness despite being slow to get control of his adminstration and military. Kennedy had the Bay of Pigs, the Cuban missile crisis, and got tangled up in Vietnam, each of which is arguably a rookie mistake or adversaries testing the untested. And now President Obama. Statistically this makes a good case that glamour is the deciding factor in electing presidents without an executive track record and that the results are not encouraging. Both Kennedy and Obama knew that they were just too damn pretty to have to slog through all that state house, military, or bureaucratic tedium. Mike Pence is a nice looking guy.
Edited on Sep 23, 2010 at 8:06amRe: Is Mike Pence Presidential Timber?
Maybe he'll end up in a cabinet position, or somewhere else in the White House as an appointed official. I could see that.
Jun '10
Re: Is Mike Pence Presidential Timber?
It-factor: "Women want him, men want to be him." I agree that Mike Pence is It-deficient
Re: Is Mike Pence Presidential Timber?
After Obama, people may think that a lack of charisma is a good thing. Mitch
Daniels, Chris Christie, Bobby Jindal -- do women want them, do men want to be like them? Perhaps not, but ....