A Test of Toughness
E.J. Dionne, Jr., raises excellent points in this column about how John Kerry should be hammering away at Bush about his hidden-in-plain-sight belief that the tax system should favor millionaires. Dionne also notes that the Bush campaign has now resorted to calling Kerry a flip-flopper for standing by his vote on the war, which hardly makes sense.
Kerry isn't playing the game the way Dionne would like him to, which raises questions about what he plans to do between now and November. Thus far, it appears his strategy is to stand to the side and watch Bush's death spiral. Can this work? Can Kerry just wait for Bush to self-destruct and make plans for his inauguration between campaign stops?
I'd like to believe that anti-Bush sentiment is fevered enough to ensure a Kerry victory even if he remains silent from now to Election Day, but it's apparent to me that he'll have to climb down from his lofty perch and actually engage Bush again before this campaign is over. When he does, I hope Kerry is wise enough to take Dionne's advice and explain why his tax plan is better than the one Bush has been sneaking through since he came into office. When Kerry gets into office, he needs to have a mandate to start fixing things.
1 comment:
Yeah, that's a fear. On the other hand, the conventional wisdom seems to be shifting to the idea that this is Kerry's race to lose. Witness Mickey Kaus on Slate, ABC's Note of August 11, Joshua Micah Marshall on Talking Points Memo, and most importantly David Broder's most recent Washington Post column. All of them seem to think Bush has maxed out his support and that the numbers bode much better for Kerry.
Even so, I think Kerry should get out there and articulate his message more clearly. He has defined positions on so many issues, but they get lost in the fog created by the almost ridiculously on-message Republican machine. BUT...the media are afraid of seeming like they're trying to annoint Kerry because they know that we know that they'd like nothing better than to say bye-bye to Bush. As a result, they let Bush get his message through more clearly than Kerry's. So I can't really blame Kerry for thinking he's better off standing pat and getting the victory he looks like he'll get with his current strategy than he would be if he decided to barnstorm the nation with a more exciting campaign. Better to win the easy way and wrangle a mandate once in office than press the issue during the election and increase the risk of making a horrible gaffe or being consumed by the Bush spin machine. I just hope it works...
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