I heard the name of Michael Dukakis, the three-time governor of Massachusetts and 1988 Democratic candidate for president, only once during the endless debates for this year’s Republican nomination. Mitt Romney, another former Massachusetts governor, was bragging about how many jobs he had brought to the state. Texas Gov. Rick Perry ran out of patience and said, "Michael Dukakis created jobs three times faster than you did, Mitt."

  At 78, Dukakis is a college professor, dividing his time between Northeastern University and UCLA, where for the last 17 years he has been a professor at the Luskin School of Public Affairs. He is a great teacher, my students at the University of Southern California tell me. He still has plenty to say, and now he is an ex-politician free to say whatever he really thinks.