The Army You've Got

A post over at Sailor Curts despairing of the quality of the potential Republican nominees inspired this:

I know a lot of people who are pretty unimpressed with the field right now. Big deal. As someone remarked, "You don't go to war with the army you wish you had, you go to war with the army you've got."
Romney's a democrat who lies about his party affiliation. We all know that, and the GOP insiders think this is a plus. After all that approach worked well with Dole and McCain, didn't it?
Perry's a former Democrat who's a bit out of his league at the national level. Still, he has an enviable record on the economic front and hopefully would be bright enough to pick good advisers.
Cain has essentially no experience in politics at all, and it shows. The "bimbo eruption" to me has Obama's fingerprints all over it. That's the way Obie has gotten elected in the past, by finding some dirt on an otherwise strong opponent and getting him to drop out. The approach does not seem to be working as well this time. His executive experience should help him in the selection of advisers.

That said, remember we're electing a president here, not a dictator. A change in control in the House, and Obie is reduced to ruling by decree through agencies like the EPA. It's to the point now that he doesn't have enough support in the Senate to pass any legislation and while the agencies can do a lot of damage, what they do by executive fiat can be undone the same way with new agency heads or, since precedent has been established, temporary Czars who don't have to be approved by the Senate.

Was McCain the best candidate we could have come up with? Of course not. He was endorsed by the New York Times in the primaries, and was thought of by the Republican base as a Democrat in Republican clothing. Would he have made a great president? Doubtful. Would he have appointed Kagan and Sotomayer to the supreme court? No. Would he have signed Pelosi's health care bill? Probably not.

You can't judge candidates in absolute terms. Holding out for Mr Perfect will only get you a bunch of Mr. Horribles who win when you stay home. Face it: Attilla the Hun is not going to be on the ballot this election, so show up and vote for the alternative to the devil we already know too much about.