Why Can't the Dems Elect an Unattractive President?

To: Mickey Kaus
Re: Dionne and the Belmonts

Since WWI, the only Dems elected President have been:

FDR, JFK, Clinton
Truman, Johnson, Carter

The first three were rock stars. Truman & Johnson inherited the office and left in disgrace (Truman's reputation has revived enormously, but as late as the Kennedy-Nixon debate in 1960, Nixon was trying to hang Truman around Kennedy's neck, and Kennedy wasn't defending him). Carter barely breaks the pattern, floating in on the post-Watergate, post-pardon tide, and leaving after one term in, more or less, disgrace.

So, why can Republicans elect everyone from heroic-but-boring Eisenhower, to outright-hideous (I mean, externally - forget about substance) Nixon, to the downright-odd George HW Bush? Reagan was their first and only rock star since TR. It may be the liberal in me talking, but I don't rate GWB, who barely beat Gore and Kerry, in that class. Which is the point: if the Dems had nominated someone with GWB's eloquence, he'd have lost.

And does Hillary have enough star power to meet the threshold in 2008?