1988

Back in 1988, the Democrats fielded a lackluster bunch of candidates that were referred to by the press as "Gary Hart and the Seven Dwarfs." Truth is some of those political "Dwarfs" were actually extremely good people who would have made excellent presidents...my favorite was bow-tie wearing Senator Paul Simon. But the truth was, none of them had broad appeal and the field definitely struck the media and the voters the media influenced as political dwarfs with little national stature. The entry of Joe Biden, one of the LEAST interesting of the 1988 "dwarfs," into the 2008 field of candidates practically forces a comparison with the 1988 situation.

And the comparison is heartening to any good Democrat. In 1988, the Republicans were riding high on Ronald Reagan's popularity. Whatever I might say regarding some disastrous things Reagan did, he certainly knew how to work a crowd and his popularity remains undiminished to this day despite the fact that some of the consequences of his bad policies haunt us to this day. In 1988, the Republican Party was in the ascendancy with its far right wing fringe suddenly in the forefront, with an amiable and genuinely nice man, Ronald Reagan, at its lead. Had it not been for Ronald Reagan, George Bush, Sr, would never have been more than a political dwarf himself in presidential politics, though his accomplishments elsewhere were respectable.