Political Crushes

Michael Kinsley on Wesley Clark:

In a properly functioning democracy–which ours is, barely–everyone is entitled to one youthful political swoon over a candidate who seems to be bucking the system. Mine was for John Anderson in 1980. Others have swooned over Ross Perot or John McCain or Lee Iacocca. The rules entitle the swooner to project his or her views onto the candidate, despite any lack of evidence or even evidence of the opposite. But the rules also insist that the candidate will never win.

Yes, I know: the same remarks apply to Howard Dean. Though he at least offers enough coherently stated positions that voters can support him on the issues as well, if they're into that sort of thing.