Your Thoughts Exactly

The Democrats thus far have succeeded at portraying George Dubbya as a Bad Man. They have failed, thus far, to sell John Kerry as a superior alternative, mostly because in many areas, there is no alternative. John Kerry has based his campaign around things Bush has done that are wrong: pissing off the rest of the world, building a huge deficit, losing jobs. While Kerry surely has identified that angry allies and lost jobs are bad things, and things he doesn’t want, he hasn’t come out with any specific policies he is planning on trying to enact. I assume he will have to do this at some time, preferably during his speech on Thursday night. Kerry needs to be identified with something, some plan, some idea that will get people to say, “if we elect him, this is what he will do.” Because right now, we don’t know. And, as he is continually being portrayed as a flip-flopper, and a liberal by his opposition, this no doubt scares swing voters. At least with Bush, we know we are getting, four more years of entitlement policy.
The Dems brought in three big guns on Monday to try and sell Johnny boy to the rest of the country. Three Southern Dems, Carter, Gore, and Clinton. Now being in Australia, I only get to go on the text of the speeches, rather than the presentation. Gore started the night with some 2000 jokes. I guess reminders of 2000 are necessary, although I am getting awfully tired of them. Complaining 4 years down the road is called being a sore loser, especially when Dems eschewed further challenges in 2000 itself. 2000 was the time to complain about unfairness.
Anyways off of that, Gore turned his speech into question time. And effectively, in my opinion, skewered Bush on his campaign promises from 2000. The Bush of 2004 is so clearly different than what he said he would be. Calling him on compassionate conservatism was a great move, especially the question: “For that matter, are the economic policies really conservative at all?” They of course, aren’t. Still, no selling of Kerry yet however
Carter comes next, and talks for a while about how Kerry served in the military, as other presidents did beforehand. Earth to Democrats: just because someone served in the military doesn’t mean they would make a good president. If people only cared about military service, neither Clinton nor Bush would have won. It’s not a bad thing to keep talking about Kerry’s service and medals, but you need to use that as a secondary selling point, not a primary selling point. The primary selling point needs to be an alternative plan, a clearly stated message. Carter goes on to bash Bush for being extreme, screwing up the Middle East, and ruining America’s reputation in the world. Again, all valid points: but tell me how you’re going to do things differently.
And last, the big honcho, Billy boy. I am reading his autobiography right now, which is excessively long and could use a good edit. Not quite as bad as Larry Bird’s autobiography, but closer to Bird than a real writer. Not a good thing. However Clinton’s strength isn’t writing, it’s sermonizing. Even from the text I can tell the sway he holds over the crowd. It’s the repetition that’s key to Clinton: “I am honored to share this stage with…(insert name),” comparing Kerry to two other Johns from Massachusetts. He understands the human brain, the way we group things and associate things with each other. He brilliantly exploits our tendency to compare and contrast, by comparing the Democrats and Republicans: “They need a divided country, we don’t.” And buzzwords my friend, buzzwords. In one sentence he mentions: new jobs, clean energy, biotechnology, global economy, labor standards, environmental standards, world diversity, celebration of differences, and world harmony. That’s just fantastic.
The problem with Clinton is that he’s already been elected twice. He can’t run again. God how I wish we could put him up against Bush. He would destroy him. Can we at least substitute him in for Kerry for one debate? Pretty please? That’s all the Democrats would need to win, one chance for Clinton to embarrass Bush. He wouldn’t even need to attack him, he would just be so much smoother, look so much more like someone who should be President, that people would just vote for whom he supported. Alas, it’s not to be. Thus the key to Clinton’s speech is selling Kerry over himself, since selling himself is no longer important.
Clinton did a good job of this: first by setting up the Republicans as missing the opportunity to give the American people what the wanted: a united country. What is key, is that Clinton didn’t portray the Republicans as doing this because they are evil a la Michael Moore, but rather as doing what they thought was right, what they believed in. Of course, Clinton points out: this is out of touch with what the American people want and need. This is such a better strategy than the antagonism of the left for winning swing voters. Then, Clinton starts preaching again, first reminding everyone of the boons of his 8 years in office, then selling Kerry as a man who steps up to the challenge, who will stand for what he believes in even if its not popular, a man dedicated to his country, who always says: “send me.” Clinton even gives Kerry a possible catch phrase “Strength and wisdom are not opposing values.” A simple way to shatter everything the Republicans have been throwing at the Democrats.
Clinton has provided the setup, but it’s not his election. Thursday night Kerry needs to build on the path Clinton has paved, and give the American people something to grab onto.