In College Speech, Kerry Upbraids Bush Administration
commondreams.org
Tests waters for presidential run
by Peter S. Canellos
Published on Tuesday, September 20, 2005 by the Boston Globe
PROVIDENCE - Nearly a year after losing the presidency to George W. Bush, Senator John F. Kerry yesterday condemned the Bush administration in sweeping terms, blaming the president personally for the failure to prepare for the catastrophe in Louisiana, dismissing Bush's recovery plan as a ''right-wing ideological experiment," and calling for a strong new commitment to combat poverty around the country.
Kerry, testing the waters for a second presidential run in what his staff billed as a major address, veered away from the statesmanlike approach he often took in last year's ''commander-in-chief" campaign, adopting a sharper tone. He sought to maintain a leadership role in the Democratic Party, urging the young to make Hurricane Katrina the start of a campaign to change national priorities.
''We have to get angry, and organize around that," he told the audience of about 800 students at Brown University, deviating from his prepared text.
Other Democrats are sounding similar notes. Kerry's speech competed for attention with an attack on the president's plans for New Orleans by Senator Edward M. Kennedy and another campaign-style speech by Kerry's 2004 running mate, former North Carolina senator John Edwards, who is gearing up for a presidential run.
Edwards, speaking in Washington yesterday, chose a more moderate approach than Kerry, stressing that ''personal responsibility" must be a component of efforts to help the poor and proposing specific policies like expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit.
Kerry, by contrast, called for a sweeping change of vision in the country, focused on elevating the poor, boosting economic competitiveness, and shifting away from an oil-dependent energy economy. Bush's tendency to deny problems, Kerry said, afflicts all areas of policy.
''Katrina is the background of a new picture we must paint of America," Kerry declared. ''For five years our nation's leaders have painted a picture of America where ignoring the poor has no consequences; no nations are catching up to us; and no pensions are destroyed. Every criticism is rendered unpatriotic. . . . Well, Katrina did happen, and it washed away that coat of paint and revealed the true canvas of America with all its imperfections."
Kerry's calls for universal healthcare, especially for children, echoed many other speeches he has given this year while trying to keep his place on the national stage after losing to Bush. But those speeches were in the same vein as many of his campaign addresses -- somber in manner, more heavy than pithy in their criticisms.
Yesterday's speech marked a major change in tone: He adopted the sense of outrage and ridicule that marked former Vermont governor Howard Dean's campaign last year.
''If 12-year-old Boy Scouts can be prepared, Americans have a right to expect that their 59-year-old president can be prepared," Kerry declared at one point.
After blaming Bush's free-market programs for hurting the poor, Kerry thundered, the president ''can't think of anything to offer [the people of] the Gulf Coast but the hair of the dog that bit them."
In an interview, Kerry said his sadness over the devastation wrought by Katrina, and his frustration after a recent trip to Iraq, in which he traveled home on a plane with the coffin of an American soldier, persuaded him to get back in the arena.
''The moment is here," he said, acknowledging that he had ''held back" for almost year, both to give Bush a chance to govern and avoid any impression of sour grapes. Now, he said, he realized it's ''time to go out and tell the truth."
Bush supporters didn't see it that way.
''John Kerry's attacks on President Bush's efforts to assist the victims and rebuild the Gulf Coast don't come as a surprise _ armchair quarterbacking on tough issues has never been a problem for Senator Kerry," said Republican National Committee spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt, in a statement.
Schmitt criticized Democrats for trying to score political points during a national emergency.
And while Kerry's speech was part of an annual political lecture series at Brown, it had the air of a major political moment. The senator was surrounded by family members including his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, daughter Vanessa, and brother Cameron -- each a key member of his inner circle and each in a position to advise him on whether to make a 2008 run. They and the senator's aides scrutinized his performance from the front row somewhat like the judging panel on ''American Idol."
The senator received a thunderous response from the Brown students. During the question period he hinted at deep frustration over not having been able to reach enough people in 2004.
''The number of people out there in America who are not interested in getting [the] facts is longer than you think," he said at one point, bemoaning the ''amount of misinformation out there."
''You've got a whole lot of people who never tune in," he complained at another point, adding, ''More and more people are voting on issues that have no relevance to their daily life, or little relevance, or no facts."
Kerry implicitly blamed the public for tolerating ''the injustice of 11 million children and more than 30 million adults in desperate need of healthcare" and he repeatedly implored the students to ''make your issues the voting issues of this nation."
Making oblique reference to his own history of Vietnam War activism, Kerry implored the students to commit to political activism. Whether he again will join them on the campaign trail as a presidential candidate, he said, is a decision for a later time.
But with his inner circle gathered in the front of the audience, it was clear that the Kerry team doesn't feel it's too early to start thinking about it.
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