JOHN KERRY STEPS IN IT [09/03 01:13 AM]
Kerry Spot [ jim geraghty reporting ]
At midnight, John Kerry set out to counter the rumors of a campaign in disarray and a sense of sinking poll numbers and lost momentum by . . . attacking George W. Bush. As the New York Times put it:
Senator John Kerry lashed back at President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney tonight, saying that he would not remain quiet while his patriotism was being questioned by men who had not served in Vietnam and who had "misled the nation into Iraq."
"We all saw the anger and distortion of the Republican Convention," Mr. Kerry said in excerpts of remarks, issued by his campaign, that he was to make later tonight in Ohio.
"For the past week, they attacked my patriotism and my fitness to serve as commander in chief,'' Mr. Kerry said. ``Well, here's my answer. I'm not going to have my commitment to defend this country questioned by those who refused to serve when they could have and by those who have misled the nation into Iraq."
Opposing candidates typically avoid speechmaking during the other's conventions, but Senator Kerry, who has made his wartime service in Vietnam a cornerstone of his campaign, has been stung by a series of attack ads by a veterans group, as well as by the oratory at this week's Republican convention.
Some supporters have urged Mr. Kerry to become both more prompt and combative in answering opponents' attacks, but it was not known whether Mr. Kerry's remarks tonight signaled a new strategy or were simply motivated by personal pique at the harshness of some of the Republican speeches.
What did seem clear is that the senator's comments, prepared for delivery at a midnight rally in Springfield, Ohio, represented a new, more heated phase of the campaign.
Was this really Kerry's problem? Not enough "heat"? Not enough attacks on Bush? Not enough focus by Kerry on the Vietnam years?
Kerry has — if you'll pardon the expression — gotten stuck in a quagmire. He, and a good chunk of the Democratic party, honestly and totally believed that the best way to prove that he has the best policies to fight the War on Terror is to remind people he fought in Vietnam. To many ears, that sounds like a non sequitur. Military service can be a plus in a presidential candidate, but Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan had little or no military experience and they all did pretty well leading the U.S. during a war.
But Kerry has focused on his Vietnam years almost exclusively, and waved his thrown and apparently re-collected medals around like a magic talisman to ward off all criticisms.
Now the Swift Boat Vets appear, and do a number on Kerry's Vietnam record. It jabs Kerry on a key element of his self-image, and he's responding clumsily and angrily. But getting down and dirty himself with the Swifties and attacking Dick Cheney for taking too many deferments in the 1960s and 1970s will do nothing to help him win over undecided voters and independents.
Kerry has almost forgotten that he's running against an incumbent. Bush and Cheney are known quantities to the voters. There are some parts they like, and plenty parts they don't like. Kerry doesn't need to talk about that any more — he needs to talk about himself, and more than his four months in 1968 and 1969.
Kerry has 60 days to turn his campaign around. He's got to get off the Vietnam issue, and off deferments, and Cambodia, and Vietnam Veterans against the War, and comparisons of U.S. forces to Genghis (or "Jen-jis", as the young Kerry preferred to pronounce it) Khan. The only way to do that is to do the sit-down interview with Tim Russert, or Brit Hume. (Or, *ahem*, National Review.) Kerry has to show he can take their best shots, answer the questions as best he can, and build upon his earlier comment that his 1971 testimony reflected "an angry young man." He's got to reach out to veterans, acknowledge the pain his antiwar protests and activities caused, and say it's time for the nation to move on to the future.
After that, Kerry has to leave the attacks on Bush to MoveOn.org, the Media Fund, and all the other 527s. John Edwards can do some, too. Kerry has to stop his "I have a secret plan that I won't show you" stuff (not the first noun that comes to mind) and start putting out solid, fairly detailed plans on Iraq, al Qaeda, dealing with globalization, etc. The details don't have to be perfect, but they have to have a little daring or imagination to them. Kerry and the Democrats are convinced their man is smarter than the president; it's time for him to start sounding like it.
This election is still winnable for Kerry, but an extraordinarily solid GOP convention just made his task much harder. |
