NEWPORT BEACH, CALIF.
‘Will he announce?” asked the Lincoln Club of Orange County’s publication in preparation for Fred Thompson’s ap pearance at the organization’s 45th annual dinner here Friday night. A rumor, totally unfounded, ran rampant prior to his speech that Thompson would declare his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination at the dinner lectern. In fact, he did not even hint at this prospect during a performance that was a letdown for the packed audience.
“It was not Reaganesque.” “No red meat.” “Too low key.” That was the preponderant reaction I heard to Thompson’s half-hour presentation. Lincoln Club members, like many conservative Republicans, had been unimpressed by the field of GOP hopefuls and envisioned Thompson as Ronald Reagan’s second coming. They didn’t get it Friday night.
The excitement aroused in melancholy Republican ranks by the politician-commentator-actor will not be doused by one lackluster performance. Nevertheless, his first speech since his unexpected presidential boom began suggests Thompson needs preparation if he does take up this daunting burden.
Expectations were exaggerated: Dissatisfaction with the presidential field was intensified by the chaotic televised debate of 10 Republican candidates the previous night. Rudy Giuliani seemed uncomfortable dealing with standard conservative issues. John McCain sounded harsh and hawkish. Mitt Romney’s newfound conservatism still seems contrived to many in the GOP base.
That explains the anticipation awaiting Thompson. He had vaulted from nowhere into the top tier of GOP candidates without running an ad, spending a dime or giving a speech. He did not organize his series of first-place straw-poll finishes at Republican gatherings in California, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma and Georgia. He impressed, wowing a meeting of House Republicans and turning up at the national Catholic prayer breakfast.
Thompson’s problem at the Lincoln Club wasn’t one of substance. He stressed the need for permanent tax cuts and entitlement reform, and took a thoughtful approach to the Iraq crisis. “There’s going to be a day after” the U.S. leaves Iraq, he said, and that requires concentration on “what is America’s role in the world.” Without naming names, he suggested that as the nation’s problems are growing, political leaders “are getting smaller.”
Surprisingly for such an experienced performer, however, Thompson had trouble with the podium microphone as his low, conversational tones faded in and out. He ended his speech on a downer by reporting a recent visit to 6-year-old schoolchildren and what they had told him.
The Fred Thompson whose vigorous style has led many Republicans to await his announced candidacy was not present. He wants a touch of “populism” in the GOP, and is sure Republican corruption and profligate spending in Congress caused the 2006 election defeat. But there was none of that in what he said here. Nor did the Thompson who stakes out his own positions and prepares them carefully emerge here.
Thompson is considering a different kind of presidential candidacy, for example, staying several days at a crack in Iowa instead of zipping in and out. But his debut speech here as a putative presidential candidate was ordinary. It will be revealing how much he changes his approach in forthcoming non-candidate speeches to GOP gatherings in Virginia and Connecticut.