A WHILE BACK, I wrote that if Kerry is elected he’ll probably wind up like Jimmy Carter: The “anybody but Bush” constituency will evaporate as soon as he’s sworn in, leaving him weak and subject to attacks from within his own party. For the barest glimpse of what a Kerry presidency might look like, read this Maureen Dowd column. And note this comment on Kerry from Garry Trudeau: “Like most Americans, I’ve been forced to unambiguously take sides, and I’m not particularly happy about it.”

Not exactly a strong base of support, but it’s what happens when you nominate a weak candidate, and unify your party around hatred for the incumbent.

UPDATE: Matt Welch wonders if Bush in 2000 was different. Well, we didn’t have poisonous Michael Moore anti-warism.

As for his Hillary comments — I’d much rather see Hillary at the top of the Democratic ticket. She’s better on the war, and seems to have much more backbone in general. No Carter, she.