I'm trying to stop dissing Kerry. Really I am.
At least I'm not alone -- a lot of reservations are being expressed about Kerry. Andrew Sullivan and William Saleton provide painful expositions of Kerry's debate performance Sunday night. Based on Kerry's tortured circuitous answers in the debate, Sullivan concludes:
"Kerry is pro-war, except when he's antiwar. He votes for war against Saddam but opposes financing it. He's for equality for gays, but against equality for gays in marriage. And his attempts to explain his having it every which way only confuse matters even further. Not a good sign for November."
Slate's Saleton notes that Kerry "never walks into a sentence without leaving a way out." Ouch.
Don't get me wrong. I'm ready to be pursuaded to Kerry's side, to circle the wagons, just as all Democrats are, but he still has the same problems as a candidate that he had several months ago when he was going nowhere. Perhaps the new "Comeback Kerry" was really just a temporary phenomenon on the campaign trail. Energized by his surge, Kerry became more clear and bold, but now is settling back into his actual persona. There is a saying that the true character of a presidential candidate ultimately shows through during the course of a campaign... .
Then again ... maybe I'm just reading too much commentary by political junkies, written by people who had wrongly written off Kerry six weeks ago and had already penciled in Howard Dean for the nomination. Or by journalists who have a professional interest in seeing the competitive race for the nomination continue. Or by journalists who have hung a target on John Kerry now that he's the front-runner.
Maybe the rank and file Democrats who have selected Kerry in 15 of 17 contests before today's Wisconsin primary know something the rest of us don't. I hope so.
"Kerry is pro-war, except when he's antiwar. He votes for war against Saddam but opposes financing it. He's for equality for gays, but against equality for gays in marriage. And his attempts to explain his having it every which way only confuse matters even further. Not a good sign for November."
Slate's Saleton notes that Kerry "never walks into a sentence without leaving a way out." Ouch.
Don't get me wrong. I'm ready to be pursuaded to Kerry's side, to circle the wagons, just as all Democrats are, but he still has the same problems as a candidate that he had several months ago when he was going nowhere. Perhaps the new "Comeback Kerry" was really just a temporary phenomenon on the campaign trail. Energized by his surge, Kerry became more clear and bold, but now is settling back into his actual persona. There is a saying that the true character of a presidential candidate ultimately shows through during the course of a campaign... .
Then again ... maybe I'm just reading too much commentary by political junkies, written by people who had wrongly written off Kerry six weeks ago and had already penciled in Howard Dean for the nomination. Or by journalists who have a professional interest in seeing the competitive race for the nomination continue. Or by journalists who have hung a target on John Kerry now that he's the front-runner.
Maybe the rank and file Democrats who have selected Kerry in 15 of 17 contests before today's Wisconsin primary know something the rest of us don't. I hope so.
posted by JFH @ 4:38 PM
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