Gingrich Makes a Better Professor Than Kerry a War Hero

COMMENTARY | Ross Douthat, writing in the New York Times, commits fallacy by imperfect historical analogy. He compares the idea of a race between Newt Gingrich and Barack Obama to the 2004 contest between George W. Bush and John Kerry.

The theory goes like this. The Democrats, driven to distraction by Bush's posture as a great war president, nominated an authentic war hero to counter him in the form of Kerry. Bush, they believed, was a draft dodger who hung out in the Air National Guard while Kerry was being shot at by Viet Cong.

Now, according to Douthat, the Republicans, enraged that Obama was being touted as so smart that he should be considered a philosopher king, has found an intelligent man of their own in the form of Gingrich. The gambit, just as in 2004, is bound to fail.

Or is it?

The problem with Douthat's analogy is that Kerry's pretensions of being a war hero were pretty much taken apart by his own brother officers in the form of the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth." There was less than met the eye where it concerned Kerry's heroics. And there was the infamous Senate testimony when then anti-Vietnam War protestor John Kerry accused Vietnam vets of being war criminals, comparing our forces in South East Asia to the army of Genghis Khan.

There would likely not be an equivalent organization-say a "History Professors for Truth"-who would be able to suggest that Gingrich is not, in fact, very smart or even a professor. Indeed, some of his critics suggest that Gingrich has the opposite problem, that he is smart, that he knows it, and that he does not mind putting it on display. They paint Gingrich as being as arrogant as "The Big Bang Theory's" Sheldon Cooper, but with better social and political skills.

On the subject of debates, Douthat is misremembering the outcome of recent political debates. Kerry did not beat George W. Bush by any stretch of the imagination. Neither did Gore win in 2000; he actually lost both on points and his bizarre behavior, stalking then Gov. Bush around the stage.

It is probably true that a Gingrich/Obama debate will not be decisive. Obama will likely lose anyway. But the spectacle of Gingrich taking Obama apart would not only be icing on the cake, but will be fun to watch.

Source: Professor vs. Professor, Ross Douthat, New York Times, Dec 10, 2011