Day By Day

Saturday, September 06, 2008

"The First Thing We Do...."

Victor Davis Hanson notes something remarkable about the Democratic candidates for national office. In the past seven election cycles every one of them, with one exceptions, was a lawyer. The one exception was Al Gore, who dropped out of law school to run for congress. By contrast, only Bob Dole among Republican candidates over the same period was a lawyer.

He writes:

So, what's wrong with the Democratic nominee once again being a lawyer?

After all, legal minds are trained to think precisely and evaluate both sides of an issue.

The problem is that lawyers usually do not run companies, defend the country, lead people, build things, grow food or create capital.

If this year Democrats were looking for populist candidates from diverse backgrounds and training who talked and thought differently from those of the past, then why didn't they nominate someone who was not trained in writing legalese and working the government legal labyrinth?

Read it here.

Good point.