Are We Talking About the Same Guy?
MoveOn.org is urging John Kerry to “Go Big” — to articulate a broad, bold agenda for change.
Which leads me to wonder — are they thinking of the same John Kerry I am? Because there’s nothing in his background or campaign to date to indicate that he has it in him to “Go Big”, at least to me.
Howard Dean knew how to Go Big. But asking John Kerry to be Howard Dean is like asking Britney Spears to be Diana Krall — it’s asking them to be something they aren’t.
To date, Kerry seems to have adopted the strategy that’s probably best suited to him — the “have you seen the other guy?” strategy of laying low and letting Bush self-destruct. Given Kerry’s temperament and Bush’s string of recent failures, this is about the best thing I can think of for him to do.
I’m sure MoveOn would prefer a more visionary candidate — hell, so would I — but we play the hand we’re dealt; the Democratic party decided they’d rather have “electability” (whatever that means) than vision this year, and we’re going to have to live with the consequences of that decision one way or the other.
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Comments
Sandy Smith
May 18, 2004
10:53 am
John Kerry is “electable” for non-winning values of electability. He doesn’t have the water-off-a-duck’s-back quality of Clinton to be mocked and ridiculed and win anyway.
But then again, I am old. Who is this Diana Krall?
David Jay
June 20, 2004
10:37 pm
“Electability” is the single most self-fulfilling manufactured political babble of all time. It hearkens back to the fantastic campaign slogan “Vote for Hubert. He can win.”
Well, yes, if enough people vote for him, he’ll almost certainly win. Likewise, if a candidate can garner votes, he’s “electable.” It’s a shame we settled for flippant jargon instead of a candidate who actually could mean something.