Black Box Report

Two mediocre actors. Two great conservative hopes. That may be where the similarities end between Fred Thompson and Ronald Reagan. Thompson may wear the costume of a movement conservative, but blogger David Corn says it doesn't fit him well:

Besides the fact that both men combined politics with acting, this characterization is a stretch. Reagan was what's known as a "movement conservative." He identified with the conservative movement, he became a leader of that movement, he championed its many causes. Sure, he did not always live the family values preached by the movement (he divorced, enacted an abortion law as California governor, ran a highly dysfunctional family). But no president of the 20th century was so closely connected to an ideological movement and its adherents as Reagan.

That cannot be said for Thompson. As a senator, he had a conservative voting record, but he was never seen as a leader of the right. In fact, he pissed off conservatives with several moves.

Immigration, campaign finance reform, affirmative action, tort reform, abortion and big, fat pork-laden earmarks, Fred Thompson has gone against the conservative line on all of them. Reagan spent 30 years becoming one of the stars of the Republican party and of the conservative movement. As such, you knew Reagan what Reagan was going to support ahead of time. With Fred, it's far less certain. It's one thing to talk a good game and drop a few base-pleasing soundbites, but you have to have a firm grasp on the "big-picture conservatism" to be able to claim the Reagan mantle - and then you have to follow it up with action, not just words. Take it from someone who would know - Michael Reagan:

To begin with, he has to give the voters in the primary states a good reason to pick him over all the other Republican candidates. He has to tell them not only where he stands on the issues, but also what he plans to do about them.

It’s not enough to say he wants a better America -- after all, everybody wants that. He has to spell out how he plans to get there.
.........
Fred Thompson must realize that Republicans are looking for more than a presidential candidate -- they’re hungry for a leader. The GOP hasn’t had a genuine, inspired leader since Newt Gingrich, and before that, my dad, Ronald Reagan.

Given that fact, how does Fred Thompson plan to fill that void? How does he plan to provide the leadership his party craves?

For a guy that seems to have spent his life stumbling through doors that have been opened for him, as opposed to getting ahead via his own grit and moxie, the closest Thompson has come to displaying leadership is in Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee and Last Best Chance - and those weren't exactly barn-burning memorable performances. The problem is there doesn't seem to be any evidence that ol' Fred has the leadership qualities of the Gipper:

Reagan may have been a "B-movie" actor, but in more than a few of those B-movies, he was the star....Thompson, on the other hand, has made a career as a supporting character, never a lead...

His political career has followed the same pattern...

Fred Thompson has been a supporting character his entire life -- whether as counsel on the Watergate committee, a senator, a lobbyist and as an actor. Yet, now he is being called upon to launch a campaign to become the biggest "lead" in the political show.

Is that why Thompson didn't come across as the all-conquering hero when he finally hit Iowa on Thursday? Did Iowans turn out expecting a Bruce Willis and instead found a taller version of Charles Grodin?

But there is one area in which Thompson is the rightful heir to the Reagan mantle, and it may be the only one that counts:

What matters to conservatives, and what always mattered about Reagan, is performativity. It isn’t that they don’t care about policy — they have an entire network of think-tanks and communications outfits and so on to enforce their policy aims. But when it comes to unifying the party, what they really seem to want is an actor.

Even if it’s an actor acting the part of another actor.

Conservatism. Brilliant! Thank You.