Back to the first Clinton for a moment

Check out this piece by Thomas Oliphant in the Sunday Boston Globe. He gets back to that Vision Thing, and praises Bill Clinton for talking about visionary leadership while standing in the rain at his library dedication.

I supported Kerry, and didn't think he was nearly as bad a candidate as lots of people did. One thing that did frustrate me about him was his lack of a compelling vision. And I do recognize that President Bush has one, even if I fundamentally disagree with it.

It's undoubtedly preaching to the choir to talk about how much vision matters, but I'm struck by how much that's true. And it puzzles me, because as much as I believe the Democratic party has to rejuvenate its base, return to focusing on down-ticket races, grapple with how we understand the middle of the country, etc., I think to some extent visionary leaders just plain arise. It makes me wonder if there isn't something inherent to the political process that Dems have to address, too, in order to make room for those visionary leaders to come up.