John Kerry's Long
Drive to Center

Posted 11:30 p.m., July 29, 2004

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My friends, the high road may be harder, but it leads to a better place. And that's why Republicans and Democrats must make this election a contest of big ideas, not small-minded attacks. This is our time to reject the kind of politics calculated to divide race from race, group from group, region from region. Maybe some just see us divided into red states and blue states, but I see us as one America--red, white, and blue. And when I am President, the government I lead will enlist people of talent--Republicans as well as Democrats--to find the common ground, so that no one who has something to contribute will be left on the sidelines.

-- John Kerry, Democratic presidential
nomination acceptance speech,
July 29, 2004

My immediate impressions of John Kerry's acceptance speech is that he nailed it. He may not have reached the heights of Barack Obama, but he soared a lot higher than we were given to expect he could. In other words, it may be true that the fences were drawn inward, but nonetheless, in my estimation, he hit it out of the park.

There was passion, actual passion in John Kerry's appeal to the American people. There was reason. There was what felt like a deeply heartfelt desire to grab the wheel of the ship of the American state and correct its course while there is still time.

Am I sold? More than I thought I would be at this stage.

We believe that what matters most is not narrow appeals masquerading as values, but the shared values that show the true face of America. Not narrow appeals that divide us, but shared values that unite us. Family and faith. Hard work and responsibility. Opportunity for all so that every child, every parent, every worker has an equal shot at living up to their God-given potential.

-- John Kerry, Democratic presidential
nomination acceptance speech,
July 29, 2004

Further Consideration

Don't get me wrong, John Kerry will have to answer with much more detail to some of the proposals he outlined tonight:

• Kerry says he will "revitalize manufacturing." Great, but how?

• He will invest in technology and innovation that will create good-paying jobs. Great. But didn't we already do that in the 1990s? And isn't there a race to the cheapest labor market for those very jobs now? Low-wage India, which took some of the United States' tech jobs, now is competing for computer-coder jobs with markets like Colombia, where labor is cheaper still.

• Kerry will close tax loopholes that reward companies for shipping jobs overseas. Fine, but won't that just drive those companies to genuinely repatriate themselves elsewhere, rather than just remaining American companies running shill operations in the Caribbean?

• He made a bid to appeal to folks in the center, like me, by pushing for a return to fiscal responsibility; he will cut taxes on the middle class while rolling back the Bush tax cuts. Does that work out financially? Will that really lead to a balanced budget in four years, as Kerry insists, or just irresponsibly shift more tax cuts to a different set of beneficiaries?

• And on healthcare, in many ways the under-reported centerpiece of the Kerry campaign, the candidate promises "America will stop being the only advanced nation in the world which fails to understand that health care is not a privilege for the wealthy, the connected, and the elected -- it is a right for all Americans." Terrific. But that could be the deepest fiscal morass in the world. Does Kerry have the courage to talk about care rationing?

Obviously, not tonight.

But those are points to be drawn out and dissected later, and no doubt the experts in the Bush reelection team are parsing them as I type.

But for now, the focus is inspiration. And, quite surprisingly, Deadwood Kerry found it within himself to inspire tonight--despite the so-so reviews from the pundits I watched. And, brilliantly, Kerry offered President Bush a deal--calling the president out by name--that the incumbent has no choice but to refuse.

I want to address these next words directly to President George W. Bush: In the weeks ahead, let's be optimists, not just opponents. Let's build unity in the American family, not angry division. Let's honor this nation's diversity; let's respect one another; and let's never misuse for political purposes the most precious document in American history: the Constitution of the United States.

-- John Kerry, Democratic presidential
nomination acceptance speech,
July 29, 2004

The president can't take Kerry up on that challenge because Bush is in trouble. He has little left to rely on but whatever fear he can generate between now and the election, to plant anxiety into voters' minds that a vote for Kerry is a vote for Osama and more horrors. Note the incredible coincidence of the discovery of a major Al Qaeda operative--perhaps tellingly, not bin Laden himself--at the height of the Democratic national convention.

(The New Republic magazine several weeks ago reported that exactly this would happen, quoting Pakistani intelligence operatives.)

But back on point: Most of the TV and radio pundits said that Kerry's mission was simply to provide a reasonable alternative to the president. One fairly compelling argument I heard is that the 10 percent or so of voters who at this point remain undecided have already made a provisional decision against the incumbent president--or else they wouldn't be undecided anymore. But they also have been waiting to see what sort of stuff Kerry is made of.

Those people were simply looking for Kerry to present himself as a viable commander in chief who wouldn't drive the ship into the shoals.

I think he did that.

Did Kerry walk away with the the presidency tonight? It's premature to say. But he certainly did not take a step backward.

-- Kevin Featherly

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