The Wall Street Journal editorial board greets the announcement of Ted Cruz’s presidential candidacy by taking the Texas senator to task for, of all things, being too much like President Obama.  The Journal notes that both men decided to launch a White House run as a 40-something first-term senator without executive experience and with some background in constitutional law (Cruz as a prominent constitutional lawyer who frequently won cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, Obama as a part-time law school instructor).  The larger point of the piece, however, is to question whether Cruz could win or could govern if he did, and the comparison with Obama doesn’t help make the Journal’s case.

On electability, Obama won (twice) — and handily.  Indeed, by being elected senator, both men filled one of the five categories of positions (senator, governor, vice president, cabinet secretary, or commanding general) that every future president not named Abraham Lincoln has held.  Both wisely decided to run within their 14-year window, the point after which presidential aspirants (such as Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush) seem to exceed their historical expiration dates.  And both were bold enough to realize that the time to run was before conventional wisdom said they should run.