Naifs In Politics

It's Saturday. Relax. Read a little history. About a vice president you probably don't remember at all:

For those boys and girls of the netroots who may not remember who Henry A. Wallace was, here is some background. Born in Iowa to a prosperous family, Wallace became an expert on modern farming. His father was secretary of agriculture under President Warren Harding. President Roosevelt chose Henry A. Wallace to be his secretary of agriculture. Wallace devised innovations in farming and seed corn and made a personal fortune before entering politics.

In 1940, President Roosevelt imposed Wallace on a dubious Democratic convention to be his new running mate. From 1941 to 1945, Wallace was vice president of the United States. But Wallace was a mystic and a dupe of the Soviet government. Roosevelt replaced him on the 1944 ticket with Harry Truman, then a Missouri senator.

Embittered, Wallace, himself not a communist, ran for president in 1948 as the candidate of the communist- dominated Progressive Party, denouncing U.S. efforts in the Cold War. He came in fourth behind segregationist Strom Thurmond running as the States Rights Party candidate. Arthur Schlesinger has described Wallace as a naive apologist for the Soviet Union. Wallace later repudiated the Progressive Party. He died in obscurity in 1965 in Connecticut.

Which, as seques go, is pretty darn good, because it leads us right to Connecticut, land of Lamont and Leiberman. And that's exactly why Barry Casselman gave us that little history lesson in Real Clear Politics today: He calls Ned Lamont "Henry Wallace with a Web site."

It's a great analysis of war politics, Dem politics and fighting terrorism, and includes a damning condemnation of one of the leading Dem prez candidates for 2008 (I'll leave it at that, a "More at 11!" moment).

Related Tags: Lamont, Leiberman, Richardson, Democrats, Politics, Iraq