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Sitting
in the audience watching John Kerry, those Democrats must have felt the same stirring
emotion I felt: Thank God for Richard Clarke.
Before
this speech, Kerry had endured a tough few weeks on the campaign trail. His claim
of secret endorsements from international leaders made him seem like either a
liar or proudly beholden to foreign political opinion. His politically brilliant
"I actually voted for it before I voted against it" in regards to his
vote against funding the Iraq war reinforced his image as a politician without
a core set of values. He
told a local Miami reporter that he was strongly anti-Castro and referenced his
vote for Helms-Burton legislation that dealt harshly with companies that do business
with Cuba. The reporter then referenced Kerry's vote against Helms-Burton. Oops.
I sure am relieved Florida isn't an important state. His campaign's implosion
snowball was gaining momentum, his favorable ratings having dropped 10 points
since late February. Luckily,
according to behind-the-scenes chatter, the scorched-earth policy Kerry was applying
to his own campaign was solely the result of exhaustion. All he needed was a little
break from the campaign trail to recharge his batteries. A week snowboarding in
Idaho is just what the political doctor ordered. OK, perhaps calling a Secret
Service agent assigned to protect your life a "son of a bitch" isn't
the best way to convince Americans that you're a good guy. But
that happened on the first day of the vacation! Just wait until the vacation was
over. After all, how many times have we heard that he's only just begun to fight?
The new Kerry would be on full display at the Democratic Unity Dinner. So I felt
it was quite fortuitous that I couldn't sleep. The
room certainly was charged when Kerry took the stage. Bill Clinton had given a
passionately stirring speech, using his own personal wealth to attack the Bush
tax cut with great effect. Clinton
used his political skills to paint a picture of why Bush should go and why Kerry
is appealing. The crowd, filled with three years of frustration and hope for the
Kerry campaign, was charged up. The
refreshed and rested Kerry took center stage and used his political skills to
produce the worst speech of the night. Without an ounce of heart or passion, Kerry's
speech quickly drained every ounce of enthusiasm from the room, and cured my own
insomnia. The Democratic National Committee is lucky the gathered crowd had written
their checks before this new Kerry took the stage. Perhaps
I'm being too hard on a man I am counting on to defeat our sitting president.
After all, it might not be fair to compare Kerry's ability to stir my soul to
Bill Clinton when he's on his game, or a "Girls Gone Wild" infomercial,
for that matter. But
it does mean Kerry will have to rely on substance over style if he hopes to win
the country's confidence. Which is why his recent highly hyped economic speech
was another big moment for the Kerry campaign. What
made that moment another letdown were Kerry's economic ideas themselves. Removing
a tax incentive that affects less than 1 percent of total companies, and a reduction
in the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 33.25 percent were the two centerpieces
of the proposal. It seemed less a bold rethinking of economics than a policy designed
to draw as little protest as possible. In
Kerry's speech at the unity dinner he began by alluding to the well-received speeches
of former presidents Carter and Clinton. He joked to the crowd, wondering what
the two men were doing every day for the next eight months. I, for one, hope they
are both booked full. For
months, Kerry has been using surrogates from Ted Kennedy to the veterans he served
with in Vietnam to make the case for his electability. In a general election the
rest of the electorate wants to hear the candidate make that case himself. Piggybacking
on the ups and downs of the president's campaign fortunes, hoping the first Tuesday
in November finds Bush on a downward turn is not a wise strategy to win the White
House. If his acceptance speech at the Democratic Convention this summer is akin
to his unity dinner speech, George Bush will be re-elected. Kerry
has yet to show Americans his political soul. Democrats in the primary season
trusted that he has one. I have one suggestion I know he understands: "Bring
it on." Until Kerry does, I'm hoping Richard Clarke continues to occupy the
nation's attention.
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