America really liked Ike, so will Mike Pompeo be the next president from Kansas? Meh

Well, of course Mike Pompeo wants to run for president.

That much has been obvious since the former U.S. secretary of state — and former Kansas congressman — left office at the end of the Trump administration. Pompeo’s dramatic weight loss is one sign of his ambitions, and so are his pugnacious Twitter and Facebook accounts, which combine shots at the Biden administration with occasional Bible verses. This week, he confirmed his interest in the Oval Office, suggesting he might get into the race for the GOP nomination even if it means taking on his old boss.

“If I come to believe I ought to become president, that I have something to offer the American people, I will run no matter who all decides to get in and who else decides not to get in the race,” he told a crowd of conservatives Monday in South Carolina.

Just a guess: Pompeo will come to believe he ought to be president.

So the question probably isn’t really whether Pompeo will run. Rather, it’s why. What’s the rationale? What does he have to offer the Republican Party as its nominee? What would he have to offer Americans as their president?

Honestly, it’s hard to find a good answer.

It’s probably instructive here to look at other Kansans who have run for president. Take Dwight Eisenhower. He didn’t seek the presidency so much as have it thrust upon him. After leading the Allies to victory over Adolf Hitler in World War II, Americans of both parties were eager to put Eisenhower in the Oval Office. And they did, resoundingly: He won 63% of the popular vote in 1952, and followed up with 60% in his 1956 reelection effort. Americans really, really liked Ike.

Or how about Bob Dole? He never won the presidency, but he did win the GOP nomination in 1996 after a long tenure as the party’s leader in the Senate. That came after failed attempts in 1980 and 1988, and after a failed run as Gerald Ford’s running mate in 1976. Republicans weren’t exactly clamoring for a Dole presidency, but there was a sense that it was “his turn” for the nomination after decades of service to the party and country.

And then there was Sam Brownback. It’s possible you don’t even remember that he ran for president in 2008 — his campaign was of the “blink and you miss it” variety. He ran as a pro-life conservative, nobody paid much attention, and he dropped out even before the primaries were held. Brownback returned to Kansas, became governor and wrecked the state budget. It’s not a story with a happy ending.

So which scenario fits Pompeo?

He’s no Eisenhower. Americans aren’t exactly raising a din demanding he run for president. A July poll found that just 2% of Republicans say Pompeo is their preferred candidate — behind Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Ted Cruz, Mike Pence and Nikki Haley.

He’s not even Dole. Pompeo’s six-year tenure as a congressman was unmemorable, his term as CIA director notable mostly for his ability to ingratiate himself with Trump, and his run as secretary of state notorious for mini-scandals involving his use of government staffers as personal gofers and throwing taxpayer-funded dinners evidently meant to cultivate his political prospects. So much for a record of service.

Instead, Pompeo seems most like Brownback — a striver who has steadily climbed the ladder of power and now is contemplating a White House campaign mostly because it’s the next step to take.

There is nothing wrong with that. Pompeo isn’t the first politician to look in the mirror and see a future Leader of the Free World staring back. But there is nothing really compelling about a Pompeo candidacy for president, either. Voters will need a good reason to give him their support. So far, they don’t really have one.