I Don’t Get It Either

Ezra needs answers, dammit:

Can someone explain the rationale of a Daschle 08 candidacy to me? He's hinting at a campaign, raising money, and now advertising across blogs with a PAC called "New Leadership for America" whose front page is a pledge to bring the troops home by 2007.

Huh?

Daschle was no peacenik, he voted for the war. And he was no liberal, either. As senate minority leader, he was a sound parliamentarian but neither a mobilizing force nor an electric personality for the party's base. He was not associated with any particular issue, like health care or energy, and he was not effective as head of the opposition. He lost an election to an empty suit and his successor is widely considered to be doing a better job than he did.

Now, I like Tom Daschle. Always have, always will. A good public servant with a good heart. But he had no major accomplishments as a senator, the party lost seats under his leadership, he was nothing even resembling a liberal, he showed no particular electoral skill, and he's never been a governor. Save for a return to the spotlight or consideration for future jobs in public life, what's the rationale for his candidacy? What's his constituency?

I don't get it.

He’s also made a trip to Iowa, and showed up on Real Time on Friday, where he practiced the time-honored political device of laughing uncomfortably and making a bad joke when Bill Maher accused him of launching his candidacy.

I can’t imagine what he’s thinking. I don’t think he captured the imaginations of diehard Democrat political junkies, no less the rest of America. He seems, as Ezra notes, a nice man, but I’ve always found him a decidedly uninspiring one. He’s Gephardt without the vague hint of albinism that keeps your eyes plastered to the screen for two extra seconds trying to locate a speck of melanin.

He lost his Senate seat in a red state, thereby waving farewell to any claim that he’s a Dem who can appeal to red-staters. He’s been one-upped in a big way by Harry Reid as Senate Minority Leader, which, in all honesty, isn’t saying much—and I don’t think being a stupendous Senate Minority Leader ever paved the way to the presidency for anyone, anyway.

As far as I’m concerned, the last thing the Democratic primaries needs is another Dem hawk trying to twist his way into an antiwar position and attempting to set himself apart by denouncing the other candidates as “too liberal.” The only vote I’ve got for Daschle is one for him to stay home.