As we look forward to the 2008 Presidential Campaign, I am amazed as always at how many Senators and Congressmen are once again weighing bids for President.

Let’s see;

George W. Bush - Governor; William J. Clinton - Governor; George H.W. Bush - Vice President; Ronald W. Reagan - Governor; James E. Carter - Governor; Gerald R. Ford - Vice President; Richard M. Nixon - Vice President and on it goes.

Does anyone spot a trend here? I am not sure that this bodes well for Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards, or Joseph Biden.

Politicians legislate because they are trained as lawyers, and that is what we expect of Legislators. On the other hand, Statesman lead, and that is why we don’t elect Senators and Congressmen to be the President. We elect Governors as President because Governors are leaders.

Senators and Congressmen quibble and they compromise. That is their job. They can be reelected indefinitely so they look to take as much credit as possible while simultaneously offending the least.

Not so the President.

The President’s term is limited, so they try to do what is right even if it costs them politically.

The great tragedy of America today is that all to many of our Senators and Congressmen are Presidential want-to-bes who lack the qualifications or abilities for the job, so instead, like cowardly dogs, if they are of the opposite political party, they continually snap at the heels of the President seeking to hobble their better, or if they are of the same political party, they bide their time, feigning loyalty, all the while waiting to strike with their full fangs when they see it to their own personal advantage.

American would be better served if Congress were to legislate instead of spending all their time trying to do a job to which they were not elected. Checks and balances are one thing, as is oversight, but we are now far beyond anything that the founding fathers ever imagined let alone envisioned.

It is the greatest irony of human life that that which makes us the greatest is how we deal with our own eventual mortality. The greatest single acts of Human history stem from people embracing their own mortality, be it the soldier who lays down his life for his Country, or the Fireman who boldly walks into the Twin Towers knowing that he would not likely walk out again, or the Passengers of flight 93, or the President who makes the right choice despite the personal cost.

On the other hand, committees by their very nature can rarely accomplish anything except the lowest common denominator - truly one of the basest mathematical concepts embodying as it does, compromise as failure where everybody gets something and in the end nobody gets anything; or put another way, cold mathematical compromise where at Solomon’s suggestion, the baby is actually cut in half and each gets half of nothing and in the end less than nothing as they suffer the consequences of their choices - or worse, their own self degradation as they prove that they don’t really stand for anything.

Likewise, Senators and Congressmen without term limits give us a glimpse into how base and degraded mankind would be if we were cursed with life immortal here on earth.

America need leadership, not compromise.  Let's hope that in 2008 we are given that choice.