As the president and lawmakers fail to address the most basic problems of unemployment, the debt and shrinking American influence, all sides have begun to look for some force outside the system to save it…

Among the Thomas Friedman-reading intelligentsia, the fear that the system can no longer fix itself can be seen in the drumbeat for Michael Bloomberg or some other billionaire to launch a third-party bid for the presidency. And, among Republicans, the fear can be seen in the desperate search for a transcendent candidate. Jeb Bush! No–Mitch Daniels! No– Marco Rubio! No– Paul Ryan! No– Rick Perry! No — Chris Christie!

They can keep searching, and hoping, but not much would change, even if Christie won. At a time when nothing – not even the attacks of 2001 nor the collapse of 2008 – focuses Washington’s attention for long on its problems, can another charismatic neophyte really turn around our broken system the way the draft-Christie crowd imagines?