Considering that the swiftboat attack dogs were primed and ready to go back in November, months before John Kerry nailed down the Democratic nomination, and were then hauled in and restrained until after the convention in Boston, it seems reasonable to conclude that the GOP preferred their sitting President to confront a challenge from another Senator, rather than a successful governor.
Certainly, competition from an experienced executive would have thrown the spotlight on leadership and administrative skills that the current occupant of the White House hasn't shown. Unless, of course, one considers prohibitions on scientific (stem cell) research, cutting health risk warnings out of EPA studies of air-borne contaminants in the aftermath of the towers' collapse in New York, and restricting the distribution of safety equipment to the troops in Iraq to be good management decisions.
Delegating authority to subordinates with particular skills is one thing. Ruling by a process of elimination, cancelling this or that program, or just simply saying ?No,? is hardly sufficient to provide direction to the nation with the most powerful and most lethal arsenal on the planet.
So, it comes as no surprise that America's allies are in distress, that the economy is becalmed and industry is hunkered down, uncertain about what other catastrophe it can expect to happen next.
What is surprising is how many people still seem to think leadership means taking risks with other people's lives. And they're OK with that.