Mike Huckabee, with that friendly Everyman face of his, seems to remind everybody of somebody. In a column coming up Sunday, George Will compares him to Richard Nixon — which I can sort of see, although I’ll warn you that Mr. Will doesn’t mean it in a nice way (but you sort of knew that, right?).
I’ll tell you who he reminds me of — so much so that, when I was flipping channels the other day on the off chance that there’d be something worth watching before popping in the DVD (there wasn’t), I saw this guy and stopped, thinking for a second that it was Gov. Huckabee.
But then I realized it wasn’t. It was another guy, pretending that he already was the president. I did a little research to get specifics.
It was Gregory Itzin, who portrays "President Charles Logan" on "24." Check out his picture, and imagine Mr. Huckabee frowning, rather than wearing his seemingly perpetual smile. See the resemblance? Maybe it’s just me, but I thought it was a little spooky.
By the way, here’s a fun fact to know and tell: At this moment, there are about 210 pictures of Huck on 
the Associated Press wire. And in almost every single one of them, he’s captured with a friendly grin. I just thought I’d tell you that, in case you doubted that Gov. Huckabee is this year’s Jimmy Carter. Remember in 1976, when, if you went by what was printed, you’d think the man was always grinning?
And no, it’s not a conspiracy. The thing is, that’s just the way everybody thinks of this guy who has just fully burst onto the national consciousness. So far, his image
is one-dimensional. Photographers think, "This is the guy who grins," so they go through their exposures looking for the grinning shots, so they will look like him, and that’s what their editors put on the wire, and that’s what newspaper editors use, because those are the ones that "look like" Huckabee.
It’s something you don’t even notice unless you do what I just did, which is deliberately look for a frowning shot. Here’s one of the few exceptions without the winning smile (below), and it still doesn’t quite meet my needs for the comparison to Mr. Itzin. But watch — if the Huckabee candidacy lasts a few weeks longer, we’ll start to see the image take on a fuller set of moods.
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Mr. Huckabee isn’t this season’s Jimmy Carter, Mr. Obama is. Mr. Obama is an outsider who wants to be an insider. Maybe his corporate connections he will act like an insider, even though he doesn’t look like one. Mr. Edwards is a kind of nouveau insider that doesn’t kiss-up to insiders. Mrs. Clinton is an insider and many of her lovers are in denial re: her terminal insideness. The Democrats need to decide what they want for the country. A Democratic variation of the “national corporation” that we have now won’t be very satisfying , unless there is a Democratic edition of Blackwater[for example] that wants some work. I think it is instrutive that the status quo folks and the corporate media wish Mr.Edwards would go away.
Brad, I do get the point about press photos tending to be chosen to reinforce a generally accepted view of the candidate…but even a frowning Huckabee does not for me resemble “President Logan” at all. Why not? Huckabee does not have that thatch of hair in an otherwise-receded hairline coming down the top-center of the forehead the way “Logan” does. But check out Nixon photos, Tricky Dick most certainly did have that bit coming down the middle (is there a name for that?).
Huckabee by contrast has a face that is very open and honest-looking. I think even frowning he would not be perceived as being disingenuous, at least on the surface.
Well, golleee, Brad, that wasn’t a bad comparison. But, to me, Huckabee is the lost twin of Gomer Pyle.
Any face will be preferable to that of the current occupant of the White House. His smirks, grimaces, and phony sincerity have gone on long enough. Daddy can’t save him from his failure this time around.
Anyone (except Rudy and his tough guy shtick) will be better for the country.
Dead on, Phillip. Open, honest-looking.
He the razor, Carter the spatula.
More Andy Taylor than Gomer Pyle.