Emery: Of Senators and Presidents, Cont.

The comparison between senators and governors as national candidates goes only so far. John Kennedy was a senator, but he was an executive type, who went into Congress instead of running for Lt. Governor because domestic issues bored him into a coma, and his real passion was foreign affairs. The legislative pace and procedures irritated him almost beyond all endurance, and he spent his time in Congress educating himself on foreign developments, and not passing laws. The senators who run terrible national campaigns tend to be 'senators' senators,' - Bob Dole, Ted Kennedy, Fritz Mondale, and others - who love the system, and who tend to immerse themselves in its details. Their problem is that they can't think thematically, in a way that moves and appeals to large numbers of people. JFK could, and so can McCain and Obama. Hillary can't.