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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (66439)	9/2/2004 11:19:57 AM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793975

Kerry playing to GOP view of his leadership John Kass - Chicago Tribune Published September 2, 2004 NEW YORK -- Democrats were angered by what was said about their man, John Kerry, at the Republican National Convention Wednesday night. The Republicans dissected Kerry's record in the Senate and stressed a theme that is working for the GOP: Kerry has proved over the years that he can give a fancy speech, but he's an equivocator, a finger-in-the-wind pol who lacks the stuff of leadership. Naturally, Democrats were upset about comments made on get-tough Wednesday. But they shouldn't be upset about what the Republicans said. It should have been expected. It's what Kerry didn't say about Kerry on Wednesday in a speech to the American Legion Convention in Nashville that should bother them. Rather than address a series of withering commercials from the Swift Boat veterans, Kerry decided not to engage. Rather than confront the Republican mantra using his own words to show that he's a flip-flopper on Iraq, he kept silent. Rather than engage what threatens him, Kerry offered programs, plans and government benefits to his fellow veterans. He talked about improved health care, hospitals and cheaper medicine if he is elected president in November. It was a speech about political payoff, and he offered them a piece of the pie. But he couldn't offer a piece of himself. In the speech to the American Legion, Kerry offered a side of himself that Republicans were hoping for, since it buttressed what they've been saying about Kerry for the past few weeks: indecisive. Overly cautious. Locked by his own post-Vietnam political past into a defensive position. He did make a strong and valid critique of the way President Bush handled the occupation in Iraq. And network news seized on this as if it were some kind of victory. I watched the speech. And I read the wire stories immediately afterward and watched the spin on TV. The common wisdom suggested it was a successful speech. Kerry detailed a list of mistakes by the Bush war planners, who didn't provide enough troops, and allowed Saddam Hussein's security forces to be disbanded too quickly, giving foreign fighters the opportunity to organize guerrilla war against American troops. "I know that some of these things are hard to listen to," Kerry said, as veterans sat on their hands and stared at him. "I know that it's always tough to talk truth to power. But I think the president himself on Monday admitted that he miscalculated in Iraq. In truth, his miscalculation was ignoring the advice that was given to him, including the best advice of America's own military." It is fair and legitimate criticism. Bush is vulnerable on the post-war planning in Iraq. Kerry is correct that poor planning not only cost American lives, it also threatens the mission there. But the candidate who is campaigning as a decorated Vietnam veteran has been hammered for months about his behavior during and after the Vietnam War. This criticism has cost him momentum, and his refusal to engage directly may have already cost him the election, since the subject has changed and he's the subject. If you've been following politics, you know that Kerry is being slammed by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth in commercials that challenge his character for the manner in which he positioned himself politically, as the anti-war hero condemning his comrades as war criminals as he launched his political career. It is a devastating ad, especially since Kerry decided to capitalize on his Vietnam combat status at the Democratic National Convention. The ad replays Kerry's own 1971 testimony about the alleged atrocities, along with comments by American prisoners of war. They accuse Kerry of betraying them as they were being held captive by the North Vietnamese. The next Swift Boat ad is worse. It discusses how he threw away combat medals in protest. And there will be more. If there is anyone who has the right to dispose of medals in political protest, it is the veteran who earned them. They don't have to apologize. I'm reminded that French officers tossed away their own medals after they claimed they were betrayed by de Gaulle when he pulled out of Algeria in the 1960s. The difference is that the French officers threw away their own medals. They didn't throw away someone else's medals, as did Kerry. Or were those someone else's ribbons? Or his own? His story changes, but the question remains. He must talk straight and plain about what he did, but he's told so many stories, that might be impossible. The irony is that Kerry was wounded in combat, while Bush, like many sons of politicians, got into the National Guard, where he was safe. Yet Kerry, the former anti-war hero, decided to campaign as a hero of Vietnam. If he engages the Swift Boat veterans, he'll have to stand and speak plainly, directly, clearly about his political calculations when he returned home so many years ago. And I don't know if he can do that.