One of the great zingers in US political history was ultimately a failure. In 1988, Dan Quayle, all thumbs as a politician, was indeed “no Jack Kennedy”. But the line that so lanced him during a televised debate did not stop him being elected vice-president a month later. It is almost as though a mythologised leader from the past is no kind of useful comparator.
A whole field of Democrats is being Quayled as I write — and by their own. They are being held to an impossible and irrelevant standard as they run for president in 2020. I need not name the standard in question, for you can almost hear each candidate being scolded that he or she is “no Barack Obama”.
This week, a grateful America has been told to anticipate late presidential bids from the reluctant but civic-minded. Michael Bloomberg, the former New York mayor, and Deval Patrick, who once governed the state of Massachusetts, are among them. Each man taps into a vein of doubt among a certain class of Democrat — rich donors, the media — about the current options. These are variously too old (Joe Biden), too young (Pete Buttigieg), too extreme (Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders) and too obscure (Amy Klobuchar). The hopefuls have “wilted upon inspection”, writes Andrew Sullivan, a conservative who longs to be rid of President Donald Trump.