To: Tom Clarke who wrote (393792 ) 4/16/2003 10:41:57 PM From: American Spirit Read Replies (1) | Respond to Kerry. If Democratic voters crave gravitas and seriousness, John Kerry can supply it in buckets. The rap on this Vietnam war hero who became a leading and eloquent war opponent is that he is too somber, too patrician (a result of establishment Yankee breeding), that he lacks the "touch" of successful street-level pols. More charisma than charm. He's been working on that, telling reporters about his motorcycle jaunts. Policy-wise, he's taken a lead among Democrats in opposing Bush's tax cuts and questioning (not too harshly) Bush's conduct of the war on terrorism. But he did vote to grant Bush the power to go to war against Saddam Hussein when Bush sees fit. The enviros consider Kerry a stalwart ally; he promised to filibuster legislation that would open the Alaskan wilderness to oil drilling. He has supported public financing for elections. Kerry does have a tendency to look for ways to distinguish himself ideologically from his state's senior senator, Ted Kennedy, the liberal's liberal. Ten years ago, he raised what he would call "hard questions" about affirmative action. That infuriated civil rights advocates, even though Kerry declared he did not intend to retreat on his support for affirmative action. He has been an ardent free-trader and voted for welfare-reform. After the state teacher's union rallied members for Kerry during his tough 1996 reelection contest, he came out against teacher tenure and attacked the union's contracts.
