I'M A LOSER, NO CHANCE TO WIN

Some of the people I teach have recently asked what I think of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. I won't, yet, get into what I think about them in terms of what sort of president either might make or whether I'd vote for one of them, but I will say here what I've said to the people who have asked.

They won't win.

Neither will the Kuch or Sam Brownback.

Other than being a man who became president in the 20th century, what does Dubyah have in common with Bill Clinton, Dubyah Daddy, Ronald Raygun, Jimmy Carter, Richard Nixon, Lyndon Johnson, Dwight Eisenhower, Harry Truman, Franklin Roosevelt, and Herbert Hoover?

Ok. Lots of things. Here's what I'm going for: they were not sitting in the House or the Senate while they ran for president (FDR wasn't, was he?).

John Kennedy was a sitting senator. There may be others before Hoover (and to be honest, I'm almost uncertain enough to do some checking on him), but for some reason this is a true thing. Coincidence is possible.

Giuliani, Pataki, and Richardson will also not win (and Obama and H Clinton share something with them on this) because they are not WASPs (Hillary is, but she's not a boy wasp, FDR and TR were vaguely Dutch). Kennedy, again, is an exception.

Whatever happened to ol' Kennedy, anyway?

If the trends hold, Mike Huckabee and Jan Edwards have excellent chances. They are WASPs. Huckabee is a governor (as were Dubyah, BC, RR, and JC) and Jan is emerging from a sojourn out of government (as were Dubyahdaddy, RR, Nixon, and Eisenhower). They are also southerners. If you count the whole Sunbelt (out to Cali), only Kennedy (again) and FDR buck the trend. Ike was, as a career military man, quasi southern, and Reagan and the Bushes were transplants.

It is entirely possible (and much to be desired, I reckon) that 2008 will be The Year when a fresh breeze sweeps through the White House.

It is also possible that someone will give me all the Star Trek DVDs as a wedding present.