A Chequer-Board of Nights and Days

Sadly, Fred Thompson has pulled the plug on his campaign. One could see it coming but his supporters--and yes, I proudly was one of them--feel a sense of loss. Thompson was the only candidate in the GOP race who consistently advocated a small-government, free market, federalist message and his departure leaves a hole in the race for the GOP nomination. Neither one of his competitors articulated the message of Reaganism as closely and as eloquently as Thompson did.

I suppose that there are things to learn from this episode in American Presidential history. We learn that getting in the race for the Presidency early is now an imperative. We learn that untraditional campaigns fail. And we learn that however much a candidate is ambitious for his ideas, it won't matter to the electorate unless he is also ambitious for himself or herself.

This appears to be the reality of the day and it is to that reality that we supporters of Fred Thompson have to reconcile ourselves. But we don't have to like it. We may tut-tut at Thompson's disregard for Presidential electioneering conventional wisdom. And we may be right to do so as well. But I don't believe that Fred Thompson departed from that conventional wisdom merely because he was "lazy." Lazy people don't get to where he has gotten in life. I think that he saw a better way to elect Presidents and his way was not shared by the electorate.