Why does Dick Gephardt do this to himself? Why on earth is he in the running for a job minimal reason must tell him he will never, ever have?
Note to Rep. Gephardt: give it up, and don't ever come back to it. You will never be president--not of the United States, anyway. The Institute for Policy Studies, maybe.
You are the Norman Thomas of your party, the Adlai Stevenson, Lyndon LaRouche, Gus Hall, Pat Paulsen. The eternal candidate. At least Thomas succeeded in driving mainstream political discourse in this country to the Left, which was his aim. What is yours? And Pat Paulsen could make us laugh.
And as a former Speaker of the House, you are probably seen by many, even many who wish you well, as the Neil Kinnock of your party: you will never lead the Democrats to national victory, not to the White House, nor to the House in which you have served so many years. Never. And Kinnock, you'll probably recall, resigned in 1992, recognizing a similar reality.
So why not take a hint from Kinnock? Quit this silliness, retire from Congress, and take up a high-paying position as a pest scold consultant at some Democrat-leaning think tank? Or, if you enjoy quixotic quests, why couldn't you sign up to be the liberal talk radio star that Al Gore is trying to help create? It likely pays better than running for office, and you couldn't be as dreary as Senator Daschle's blog. Not even you.