October 02, 2004

John Kerry is His Own Best Enemy


There's an eruption going on here somewhere.

Mount St. Helens

John Kerry



All hell is breaking loose in America. Florida has been incessantly ravaged by hurricanes for the past month, California's tectonic plates are having a point of contention once again, Mount St. Helens is blowing its top and John Kerry is ahead in the public opinion polls.

Seizing on the opportunity to first agree before disagreeing with himself, John Kerry ended the first presidential debate of 2004 looking like a winner. How did he ultimately accomplish this? By attacking his own weaknesses better than George W. More specifically he had to become more like George Bush. He appeared resolute, determined, authorative...presidential. No flipping and/or flopping.

Yet things haven't always been this rosy for John Kerry.

The Bush campaign has been having a field day the past few months pointing out John Kerry's inconsistencies; with little to no counter from Kerry's side. The best attack the Kerry campaign has been able to muster is bringing up W's service record, and we all saw how that blew up in Dan Rather's face. What John Kerry should have learned from the Swift Boat Veterans fiasco is that the best way to beat someone is to turn their strengths into weaknesses: Kerry is a decorated Vietnam veteran; fact, he didn't deserve his metals, was a horrible Swift Boat Captain (re: poor leader) and probably was an agent for the Vietcong. John Kerry is a seasoned veteran of the Senate that opposed the war in Iraq; fact, he is out of touch with mainstream America, "flip flop's" on important issues and most likely brokered the deal between Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden.

John Kerry may feel like the golden child after what he accomplished on Thursday, but he ultimately didn't fully utilize the George W. Bush attack method. He may have defended himself deftly, but he didn't take the president's strengths and turn them against him. If George Bush is decisive, then why isn't he single-minded? If George Bush is resolute, then why isn't he recklessly unyielding? So far the Kerry campaign has conceded to us that President Bush made the wrong decision at the wrong time; because he is unwilling to compromise, why doesn't he make the worst decisions all of the time, without afterthought?

Even if the Kerry campaign eventually moves toward implementing George Bush's proven attack technique, he still lacks one definitive Bush quality that he can never obtain, humanity. At the end of the day, most Americans believe that President Bush is more like them than John Kerry will ever be. Say what you want about utilizing empathy as a requirement for electing a president, but with two questionable candidates on the ballot, it's hard to reason why not.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Bush/Kerry is un-fantastic. Why dost I speaketh such deviant dissent, good N just liege? Kerry has 2 ills in my opinion, while Bush only has 1. Kerry favors abortion N homosexuality. Bad news for his soul. Bush only favors abortion under fire. Bad news for his soul, too. Bush's the one who I'm voting for, the lesser of 2 evils, being a hardcore, Roman Catholic --- However, you may vote any way you wanna. This is a free-country. Permit this sinful mortal to share with yoo somma MY wisdom. You'd be very wise to follow it. 'Politics' will pass-away; Your soul lives forever... much longer than 999 DECILLION years --- So, if you can't see the vast, self-evident-reality of Heaven or Hell, great. Take a lookit my killer URL (repentance would be a great idea, too). God bless. www.reddink.com/INDEX