Kerry needs to get his act together
OK. I can't help but say it again. The problem with the sudden John Kerry firestorm that has engulfed the Democratic party is that his candidacy has not been fully vetted, and he hasn't been forced to articulate a thematic purpose to his candidiacy, and I'm concerned that the Bush campaign, with upwards of $200 million to spend, will come up with all kinds of ways to do it for him.
The guy has been amazingly lucky to get where he is, as Democratic primary voters apparently are so united in their dislike of Bush that when Howard Dean started freaking them out, they rushed to embrace the best resume in the race.
So I didn't catch the Wisconsin debate Sunday evening, but I would have thought that it would be an opportunity for Kerry to really shine -- he could have figured that neither Edwards nor Dean would go on the attack because Edwards doesn't do that sort of thing and Dean has gotten the idea that there really isn't anything he can do or say at this point. (Dean is like a heavily favored basketball team that finds itself behind by 25 points at halftime. He's going through the motions, but is thoroughly defeated just waiting for the final buzzer to go off. He probably should have embraced a boxing metaphor and thrown in the towel after New Hampshire.)
But here is what Chris Suellentrop reports in Slate: "How bad was Kerry's night? It wasn't disastrous, but it's as bad as I've seen him. He sounded like the meandering, orotund Kerry of last summer. His answers to questions about diversity and gay marriage were muddled incoherence, and he claimed that it wasn't his fault that the Bush administration has abused the Patriot Act, the No Child Left Behind Act, and the congressional Iraq war resolution. But if you vote for broadly written laws that are abused by the administration in power when you passed them, aren't you at least partly to blame for the consequences? You wouldn't let your 6-year-old drive the family car and then blame him for the accident. And you can be certain that if the Patriot Act, No Child Left Behind, and the war were popular with Democratic voters, Kerry would be taking credit for them."
I must have heard the same "incoherent muddle" last week on NPR when Kerry was asked about gay marriage.
There is still time for Kerry to hone his message, but the time to start focusing on November is now, while he is still mostly basking in the warm sunshine of the still-only-recently-crowned front-runner. As soon as Dean and Edwards go down, though, the going is going to get rough and I hope he's ready for it.
The guy has been amazingly lucky to get where he is, as Democratic primary voters apparently are so united in their dislike of Bush that when Howard Dean started freaking them out, they rushed to embrace the best resume in the race.
So I didn't catch the Wisconsin debate Sunday evening, but I would have thought that it would be an opportunity for Kerry to really shine -- he could have figured that neither Edwards nor Dean would go on the attack because Edwards doesn't do that sort of thing and Dean has gotten the idea that there really isn't anything he can do or say at this point. (Dean is like a heavily favored basketball team that finds itself behind by 25 points at halftime. He's going through the motions, but is thoroughly defeated just waiting for the final buzzer to go off. He probably should have embraced a boxing metaphor and thrown in the towel after New Hampshire.)
But here is what Chris Suellentrop reports in Slate: "How bad was Kerry's night? It wasn't disastrous, but it's as bad as I've seen him. He sounded like the meandering, orotund Kerry of last summer. His answers to questions about diversity and gay marriage were muddled incoherence, and he claimed that it wasn't his fault that the Bush administration has abused the Patriot Act, the No Child Left Behind Act, and the congressional Iraq war resolution. But if you vote for broadly written laws that are abused by the administration in power when you passed them, aren't you at least partly to blame for the consequences? You wouldn't let your 6-year-old drive the family car and then blame him for the accident. And you can be certain that if the Patriot Act, No Child Left Behind, and the war were popular with Democratic voters, Kerry would be taking credit for them."
I must have heard the same "incoherent muddle" last week on NPR when Kerry was asked about gay marriage.
There is still time for Kerry to hone his message, but the time to start focusing on November is now, while he is still mostly basking in the warm sunshine of the still-only-recently-crowned front-runner. As soon as Dean and Edwards go down, though, the going is going to get rough and I hope he's ready for it.
posted by JFH @ 10:29 PM
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