An embarrassment of riches

With the recent news that Paul Ryan is considering a presidential run, it is becoming increasingly untenable to argue, as some have, that the Republican field is weak. It never was, anyway, in my opinion. Bachmann, Perry, Romney, McCotter, Cain, possibly Palin – they all have their weaknesses, but they all have strengths, too, including one they all hold in common: any of these candidates is head and shoulders above Obama in every category that really matters. And can you imagine a debate between Barry and Paul Ryan? (although the one I’d really like to see would be a debate between Obama and the extraordinarily witty Thad McCotter; if that ever happens, the preshizzle would be wise to arrange, beforehand, for an international crisis to interrupt the debate early in the evening. “Listen, Thad, I’ve got as much, er, ‘feck’ as anybody, but…oh, hold on a sec…Hello? Yes? Oh, good evening, Krugman. What’s that? An alien invasion? I’m on it. Sorry, everybody, I’ve got an intergalactic crisis I’ve got to fix. Later.”)

Things are really hottin’ up! But no matter how strongly we may ultimately wind up feeling about this or that presidential candidate, he (or she) is never going to be a savior, as Don Boudreaux points out in this excellent repost (as timely today as when he first published it in 2004).