Cobb: Wary of Kerry

May 02, 2004

Wary of Kerry

Surprisingly, there has been nothing that Candidate Kerry has said in the weeks since he's been the Democrats man, which suggests he's ready to take the Oval Office from GWBush. Everything I've heard sounds very soundbitey and superficial. He can't seem to get his rhetorical crow-bar under the Bush presidency and reveal it's seamy underside. He's done nothing except parrot the rhetoric of Bush skeptics, cynics and haters. In otherwords, he seems not to have his own individual take on the Bush Whitehouse as a career politician that suggests in any way that he would do anything substantially different.

Nader, on the other hand, is always different. Not likely better by a long-shot, but at least you understand where he's coming from practically speaking so that you know he might give us a different face. I don't often read TPM, but I'm generally rewarded, and this time is no exception.

I'll probably listen a little closer, but I cannot find anything substantially different in Kerry's view of the New World Order which would suggest that America will be considered a substantially different entity under his helm. To the extent that Bush's initiative (or jumping the gun if you will) turned America from an intermittently bright shining beacon into Lucifer's own project, there's nothing Kerry says which would bring us back to the good side of the world. Not that that's necessary, but the Republicans are just way out in front of him on foreign policy. He cannot move anywhere Republicans haven't already expected him to go. He's boxed in, and can't make a big enough difference to the world.

The Bush Administration, admittedly out of its depth in the nation building department, has enough internal strife between State, Pentagon and Whitehouse which has made prosecution of the entire Iraqi operation (notice how nobody bothers to call it Operation Iraqi Freedom any longer) clumsy. I don't think it tragic or irrecoverable, but I would need to be convinced of a great deal before I turn that matter over to a new team. As far as I can see, Kerry doesn't have the time, wit or resources to come up with a better plan between today and November.

Unless he can convince he's Mighty Casey and doesn't strike out, I'm sticking with the incumbents.

Posted by mbowen at May 2, 2004 04:16 PM

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Comments

I think you have exactly my pov. War on terror is the one issue that can't be fixed later. Bush etc may be incompetant but at least they realize its a war.

What will Kerry give up to get 5k French and German soldiers into Iraq. He also says he is willing to settle for stability (ie strongman) instead of democracy.

End of day its been about a year since Saddam went into hiding. Could we be doing better yes, but we could also be doing much worse. The UN predicted 500k casulties and 2 million plus refugees from the war. In fact millions of Iraqi refugees have retuned to iraq.

If there is any huge mistake Bush made is was by not convincing the Kurds that we should allow Turkey to send in peace keepers.

The other mistake it listing to their critics. And hinding the truth like the fact that Sryian and Iranian agents are active in Iraq.

Posted by: Scott at May 3, 2004 12:34 PM