Fred Thompson, the actor slated to be appointed vice president after Cheney resigns because of health issues later this summer, says Americans are ready for some common sense policies.

Sure, who isn’t. But that’s the sort of thing a candidate says to postpone our discovering we disagree with him. Likewise, Obama talks about coming together around our shared American values.

But the fact is that we don’t hold our sense in common. And, while we can come up with values we Americans generally share, they’re too broad to guide implementation. We disagree with one another. On some issues, we really really disagree. Really really really.

Now, Fred Thompson is just a manly actor who takes Reagan as his role model, which is aiming pretty low. Obama, on the other hand, I find inspiring and has unlimited potential; I’d be thrilled to have him as our candidate. Obama has, of course, been filling in the details of his policies, because appeals to common sense and shared values can only put off disagreement for so long. [Tags: politics fred_thompson barack_obama]

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