One reason I think we lost the primary was Dr. Dean’s comparing his own “straight talk” campaign with that of his idol, Harry Truman.
Truman was an accidental President, rising to power on Franklin Roosevelt’s death in 1945. Truman’s 1948 win over Thomas E. Dewey was a big upset . More important, Truman lost both Congressional elections held under his watch. And in 1952 we got Eisenhower.
Fact is, Truman was exhausting, and McCarthyism, a paler form of Stalinist repression, best fit the national mood. In our time we have what I call “religious McCarthyism,” with a zealot in the White House. Would Truman have beaten “Tail Gunner Joe” if Joe McCarthy were the President in 1948? Would Democrats have run him?
I strongly doubt it. I don’t know whether we’re running Tom Dewey or Alger Hiss for President. Like Dewey, Kerry’s the experienced hand with the respectable record, the guy who does well in the polls. John Kerry is also everything Hiss was – tall, patrician, connected, and c