Thompson and hyperactivity

A devastating article from Roger Simon of the Politico yesterday on the Thompson campaign. The title says it all: "Lazy as charged." There's no good way to excerpt it--the totality of the story captures Thompson's lethargy best.

Here's an excerpt from an article by Reid Wilson:

Thompson brushed off early criticisms that he did not possess the fire in the belly necessary to run a winning campaign. Still, it does not help the laziness rumors to go shopping at a suburban Washington mall just over two weeks before the most important election of his life will take place a thousand miles away in Iowa. While he launched a major bus tour through Iowa this week and earned the backing of a top Hawkeye Republican, Congressman Steve King, it may be too little, too late.

Thompson provides two lessons for future candidates: Winning the presidency takes more than just looking like a president. And unlike national buzz, which builds for a celebrity candidate, voters in Iowa and New Hampshire really do want the opportunity to hear what a candidate has to say. It takes work to win them over, a lesson any future candidate who hopes to buy Iowa and New Hampshire votes through big advertising blitzes would do well to remember.

It's interesting that to run for president you have to be a hyperactive egomaniac to be successful. But this gives us hyperactive egomaniac presidents. And that's not necessarily good: we just might be better off if we had a little more lethargic presidents. Hyperactive presidents tend to be hyperactive in the same way they are when they campaign--hyperactive in protecting their image and political standing. And on occasion that's distinct from what's in America's best interest.