Thompson withdrew from the presidential race last week. He ended his campaign as he had conducted it, with a minimum of fuss and no wasted words. He released a withdrawal statement over the Internet. It was three sentences long, and he hasn’t been heard from since. My guess is we’ll be missing him dreadfully by spring.

The charge against Thompson, who entered the campaign last September when polls showed him a favorite among Republican voters, was repeated so often it became a cliché. Like most clichés it tells us more about the people who used it than about the state of affairs it was supposed to describe. His campaign lacked “energy.” He didn’t get out enough on the campaign trail, and, when he did, he didn’t hold enough events. His speaking style was too low-key, and his speeches were too long, and more often than not his “performance” in televised debates was lackluster. He just didn’t have the fire in the belly.

The Weekly Standard

That was precisely the problem.  We live in a flashy Hollywood society today and ironically Thompson didn’t fit the bill.  With the exception of the final Republican debate in Myrtle Beach prior to the South Carolina primary, there was no fire with Thompson, no fury, no spirit.  There were a lot of good ideas and lot of the right stuff to reign in the conservative base, but it wasn’t presented in palatable format.

This is the key difference between someone like Fred and someone like Barack Obama.  Obama has no ideas, no plans, no details, no nothing, but he’s an eloquent speaker and knows how to liven up the party.  Look how many people are gravitating towards that guy.  Thompson was more straight forward and not really the lively type so I think people just didn’t pay attention.

It shouldn’t be that way, but such is the world we live in today.  If you can’t catch the attention span of the American Idol crowd you’re just wasting your time.