Whatever happened to Tommy Thompson?

A few months ago former Gov. Tommy Thompson made some noise when he said he might consider running for governor in 2010. If victorious, of course, Thompson would make his record time spent in office even less likely to beat, as he’d add four years onto the 14 he spent between 1987 and 2001.

Thompson essentially represents what the Republican Party would look like in a sane political system. He’s conservative in that he supports exploring non-government solution to social problems, however, he recognizes that the problem is better solved by government than not solved at all. Health care would be the best example. Thompson has been a vocal critic of the status quo, which most Republicans are effectively seeking to maintain. He was after all the man who started BadgerCare, which has extended health care benefits to thousands of Wisconsinites who are not poor enough to be eligible for Medicaid but struggle with health care costs nonetheless.

It was supremely ironic that he was appointed Secretary of Health and Human Services by President Bush, considering that Bush heartlessly vetoed an extension of the State Children’s Health Insurance Plan in 2007, using a red herring argument that the plan put “government in charge of people’s health care.” I sometimes wonder what was going through Bush’s head when he made those arguments – did he actually convince himself to believe them?

In fact, Thompson was an enthusiastic Bush lackey in some ways. He happily followed orders to nominate morons to the National Institute of Health, and once rejected a nominee on the basis that “he’d signed too many full page articles critical of President Bush.”

Nevertheless, Thompson would be Doyle’s most formidable opponent. Thompson, if he campaigned right, would be the wise veteran, scolding his successor for creating fiscal crises that have led to tax hikes. Thompson in many ways is to Wisconsin what Reagan is to America. He’s probably smarter, and less charismatic, but people trust him, and they believe he holds the solutions in hand. Perhaps most maddening, he never seems to get blamed for the problems he left his successors. The prison debacle, the failure of his welfare reform program – they all are heaped on Doyle’s plate, even though the problems have their roots in policies put forth and celebrated as visionary by the Thompson administration.