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Politics : The TRUTH About John Kerry -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Hope Praytochange who wrote (667)	3/3/2004 1:05:33 PM
From: JakeStraw	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1483

Kerry needs to show his heart By Derrick Z. Jackson, 3/3/2004 JOHN KERRY now has the hearts of Democrats in his hands. He has eight months to reveal his own heart. His biggest risk is assuming that the job is too easy. After an almost universally acclaimed demonstration of leadership right after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the presidency of George W. Bush is now a malignant mold that threatens to hand the election to Kerry. A CBS News poll last week found Bush to have a 40 percent favorable rating, 36 percent unfavorable, and 18 percent undecided. Bush's job approval rating in the CBS poll last week slipped to under 50 percent for the first time in his presidency. He was at 90 percent during the terrorist attacks. His job approval rating is now 47 percent. Furthermore, most of the polls of the last half year have shown that a slim majority of Americans have been dissatisfied with the way things are going in the United States or say the country is "on the wrong track." While 61 percent of Americans still said in a February Washington Post poll that Bush is a "strong leader," the percentage of Americans who agreed that Bush "understands the problems of people like you" shrank from 61 percent in the months after 9/11 to 41 percent. Perhaps most important is that the percentage of Americans who said Bush is honest and trustworthy shrank from 71 percent in July 2002 to 52 percent last month. Despite the gift of history, the younger George Bush is eerily going down the same path as his father leading up to the 1992 election. The nation tired of the lack of attention Bush's father gave to the economy after ousting Saddam Hussein from Kuwait. The son's only domestic economic program, or so it seems, is tax cuts. A January Gallup Poll found that 55 percent of Americans said tax cuts either hav no effect on the economy or hurt it. All this means that Kerry has the presidency within his grasp. Kerry has welcomed any attacks by Bush by saying, "Bring it on." This week he promised: "This isn't going to be some kind of we're-like-them, they're-like-us, wishy-washy, mealy-mouthed, we-can't-tell-the-difference deal. This is going to be something where we're giving America a real choice." First, Kerry will have to choose which Kerry he will be. He is some parts liberal (abortion, environment, and civil rights), some parts centrist (voted for No Child Left Behind), some parts soul-searching (Vietnam), and some parts sellout (Iraq). His stance on gay marriage is a great example of the conundrum he must unlock. He is for a state ban but against a federal ban on gay marriage. That is not a great sign. No matter how heartless the Democrats try to depict Bush, it will not matter in the heartland until Kerry shows Americans a Democrat whose chest throbs to a truly alternative beat. boston.com