Clarence Thomas for president!

Soon after the election of President George H.W. Bush, when he was approached about serving as a federal judge, Thomas — then the director of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission — said he couldn’t imagine spending the rest of his life on the bench. But his friend, federal appeals court Judge Laurence Silberman, responded: “It’s not like slavery, Clarence. You can always leave if you don’t like it.” Twenty years later, Thomas is still honored to be a judge. “But I wouldn’t say I like it,” he said in a speech at Chapman University in 2007. “There’s not much that entices about the job.”

So why not step down? Thomas should leave his perch at 1 First Street — and head for 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

The Republican Party is in disarray, with no clear message — as shown in last week’s primaries — and with no obvious candidate to challenge President Obama in 2012. Thomas could be the GOP’s new standard-bearer. He has enviable name recognition, both as a long-serving justice and as the author of the bestselling 2007 autobiography “My Grandfather’s Son.” And he has already survived the nasty political attacks that marked his 1991 confirmation hearings.