Blanche Lincoln, the Yard Sale President

Southern Democrats are doing their best to rise again, and make the Democratic Party their own with another out-of-nowhere presidential candidate, in the mold of Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter. The difference this time is that they’re seeking to promote a senator, not a governor. They’ve started a Draft Blanche Lincoln in 2008 movement.

Who is Blanche Lincoln? If you don’t follow the United States Senate, you may be forgiven for not knowing her name. She’s a senator from Arkansas, a product of the same rightward-leaning political machine that gave us Bill Clinton.

The people who are starting the effort to get Blanche Lincoln into the White House are certainly very eager to promote the idea of her candidacy, and have come up with many reasons to give her support over all the other possible Democratic contenders. I had to giggle, however, when I read the following argument for Lincoln for President:

Q. What makes Blanche Lincoln different from any other member of the D.C. political establishment?

A. Her experiences. Senator Lincoln has worked in a bipartisan fashion to get things done in Congress. Outside of Congress, she takes pride in a fulfilling life as a farmer’s daughter, a duck-hunter, a yard-sale rummager, and a working mom.

Here we go with the old running against Washington schtick. Is Blanche Lincoln really a political outsider? Of course not. No Senator is a political outsider. Blanche Lincoln is one of the hundred most powerful legislators in all America, operating in the heart of Washington D.C. It doesn’t matter how many church rummage sales she attends, with an aide in tow. Blanche Lincoln is a political insider.

I’ve never before heard the argument that like a politician is qualified to become President of the United States because of a fondness for yard sales. This approach does remind me of another silly campaign outsider gimmick, however: Lamar Alexander’s plaid campaign uniform.

It goes back a few campaign cycles now, but the memory of Lamar Alexander’s presidential campaign uniform is still strong in my mind. Lamar Alexander, a political insider from Tennessee, tried to convince America that he was an outsider, and a man of the people, by wearing a plaid shirt everywhere that he went. It wasn’t just any old plaid, either. It was fresh and crisp, just off the rack, in that old red and black lumberjack pattern that nobody really wears anymore, except for millionaires who are trying to buy a woodsy costume for themselves to wear at the hunting lodge.

America falls for a lot of gimmicks, but it saw right through the plaid. A hint to the Arkansas Democrats: America will see through Yard Sale Blanche as well. Nobody believes that a powerful United States Senator really goes to neighborhood garage sales to find 50 cent bargains – except as a photo opportunity.

Try another gimmick. Maybe Senator Lincoln could put up some of those country geese wearing bonnets in her office… or sing Grandma’s Feather Bed at her next press conference.