Fred Thompson as executive

Over at Townhall.com today, self-described "Romney shill" Dean Barnett put together a pretty compelling case predicting failure on Fred Thompson's part as a presidential candidate.

Here’s my big concern about Fred: I’m very worried about entrusting the most complex CEO job in the world to someone or anyone who’s never run anything bigger than a six person law firm. Thompson has no executive experience, and it shows in the way he’s run his campaign.

The indecision, the lack of direction, the organizational incoherence – these are hallmarks of a rookie CEO. Anyone who’s ever run anything knows what I’m talking about. You get better at it as you go along, and there’s a pretty steep learning curve.

Unfortunately for Fred, POTUS isn’t an entry level CEO position. Nor for that matter is running a campaign for the presidency.

If you look at the campaigns that have functioned relatively smoothly to date, all of the principals have executive experience. Mitt Romney was a governor and ran numerous large companies. Rudy Giuliani ran the world’s most complex city. Mike Huckabee ran Arkansas. Hillary Clinton has been running the Clinton family’s vast criminal enterprise for decades. (I kid, I kid.)

The poorly run campaigns, on the other hand, all have principals who have never run anything more complex than a Fantasy Football League. Barack Obama’s campaign has more money than Croesus, yet constantly struggles. John Edwards can’t get his personal life to square with his political message, nor can he get his yappy partner to stick a sock in it. And Fred…

We've been needing a governor from the West or South for some time -- that's who tends to win.