U.S. Rep. Pete King tells Glenn Thrush that General David Petraeus is the only 2012 prospect who could beat his Commander-in-Chief.
"He's a serious guy... He's about the only one out there who could really challenge Obama, who isn't as strong as he was a few months ago... I think he's an independent, and I haven't talked to him about this, but I'd encourage him... I'd be open to it."
Two things that might quell Pete's Dragon.
1. Petraeus isn't an independent. He's a self-described Rockefeller Republican.
2. Petraeus' close friend, Bill Frist, recently told Paul Bedard.
"He has made clear to me and to others that he's not interested, and I believe him."
Yesterday, Allah Pundit took up the Petraeus question, ultimately concluding 2016 was the Gen's only realistic shot.
Among the major Republican candidates, the only one who truly excites the base is Palin, yet she’s sufficiently poisonous to moderates at the moment that Bob McDonnell won’t even take her up on her offer to campaign for him in Virginia while sitting on a nine-point lead.
Petraeus is the only person on the landscape, it seems, capable of intriguing the base and centrists. His problem is that, for the foreseeable future, the country’s problems don’t play to his strengths.
Ike was an easy choice for post-war America because he epitomized strength and victory at a moment when the red menace was top priority; our own top priority for most of the next decade, I imagine, will be unemployment and debt unless Iran or North Korea does something astoundingly nutty. Why look to a general to deal with that?
Like [Daily Beast columnist Peter] Beinart says, a serious look at Petraeus would require another Republican flameout in 2012, driving the party to such desperation that they’ll practically be forced to look outside the box. He’ll only be 64 in 2016.
