Bush's stands clear, Kerry's murky

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Bush's stands clear, Kerry's murky

James P. Pinkerton

September 7, 2004

It's hard to beat an incumbent president in wartime. At least this early in a war.

Today, the fighting in Iraq is an abstraction to most people. Casualties are low - more Americans were killed in a few weeks' worth of Vietnam fighting - and there's no draft, so few Americans can argue that they are being called to face death against their will. And so the news from Iraq is easily shunted aside by news of hurricanes, political conventions or celebrity criminal cases.

And while the Iraq war is increasingly unpopular, the public still applauds George W. Bush's leadership in the overall "war on terror," stretching all the way back to 9/11. In fact, the president's resolve in the face of difficulty has become an asset to him. While critics might call the Iraq war misguided, his supporters call it proof of his character. Last week, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger hailed W.'s "inner strength." The argument heard repeatedly at the Republican convention was that, whatever else, you know where Bush stands - he stands tall. And he stands even taller in the polls: 11 points ahead, according to a survey in Time magazine taken during the convention.

In fact, Bush seems to control all the high rhetorical ground this year. Bushian phrases - "axis of evil," "moral clarity," "pre-emption" - dominate the public consciousness, while Kerry scrambles for even one memorable soundbite.

Kerry's problem isn't just poor wordsmithing. He also lacks the personal conviction to stick with any phrase, and the thought that goes with it, long enough to make it familiar to the public. Whatever Kerry has said about the Iraq war, it is sure to be contradicted by something he has said in the past - or will say in the future.

The Massachusetts man's most recent attempt at a soundbite was, "I'm John Kerry, and I'm reporting for duty." After the Swift boat attack, we're not going to hear that one any more. So the challenger is now bogged in two war-related political quagmires, one from the present and one from 35 years in the past.

Kerry will no doubt be hitting back more. Bolstered by a new posse of Democratic politicos, he will be "sharpening the message," his flacks proclaim. But a candidate who goes windsurfing off Nantucket while his opponents word-bomb him lacks the quick reflexes of a political winner. Yes, he fought in Vietnam, but since then the good life has gotten too good for him. Kerry posing as a fighter for ordinary Americans is the equivalent of a cardboard cutout. His stapled-together campaign recalls the movie "Blazing Saddles." At the end of that Mel Brooks farce, the Old West scenery collapses in ill-constructed absurdity.

Meanwhile, a strong critique of Bush's Iraq policy waits to be made. On Wednesday, the Royal Institute of International Affairs, a think tank connected to the British government, concluded that the best the United States and its allies can hope for in Iraq is a "muddle-through" scenario. That is, the country holds together, but fails to become a democracy friendly to the West.

So, despite all of Bush's war-rhetoric momentum, it should be possible for the Democrats to assemble a verbal and intellectual counterattack, using heavy phrases such as "optional war," "no WMD" and, most poignantly, "KIA."

Yet, while Kerry sits tongue-tied, Bush sallies forth to new oratorical heights. Having brilliantly fused 9/11 into Afghanistan into Iraq, the president now seeks a mandate to change the world. Americans, he said on Thursday, have received "a calling from beyond the stars to stand for freedom." That's heady stuff; delegates in Madison Square Garden loved it.

But does the Bush record of nation-building and democracy-fostering in Afghanistan and Iraq justify a further ambitious agenda for the planet? Are the Palestinians, the Russians and the Chinese - to name just three more hard cases - really going to board Bush's freedom train? And if not, what will we do? Those are good questions, but Kerry is not the man to ask them.

James P. Pinkerton's e-mail ad- dress is pinkerto@ix.netcom.com.

Copyright © 2004, Newsday, Inc.

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