So today?s Washington Post makes it sound as if John Kerry?s chance of becoming president is wafer-thin unless he:
a) wins Florida, or
b) changes the ?dynamic of the race.?
It?s amazing how quickly this has become the conventional wisdom. And yet who could be surprised? John Kerry hasn?t given voters any positive reason to support him over Junior, and in particular he has no credible plan for fighting terrorism and sorting out the mess in Iraq.
Kerry?s mistake was focusing entirely on his distant war-hero past, instead of on projecting a tough-guy image in the present. Americans want a badass who will spank Osama Bin Laden, not a wuss who earned some medals 30 years ago. Whether or not they agree with the occupation of Iraq, most Americans want to prevent another 9/11 and punish the people behind it.
Which leads to the Democrats? other problem: they?re acting as if George Bush is the bad guy. He?s not. Pretend for a second that this is an action movie, and that John Kerry is the renegade hero who?s going to take down the bad guy, no matter what it takes. The ?bad guy? in this scenario is Osama Bin Laden. Dubya is just the mealy-mouthed authority figure who tries to prevent the action hero from doing what?s necessary. He?s ?Dickless? in Ghostbusters. He?s the Commissioner who takes away the tough cop?s badge. He?s Cornelius Fudge.
OK, you can stop pretending now. Obviously, in the real world, John Kerry is Dickless/Cornelius. But if Kerry could reverse the dynamic and cast Bush in the Fudge role, we might actually get somewhere. Kerry wouldn?t have to mislead anybody, either. There are a lot of smart, constructive things we could be doing to crack down on terrorism that Bush hasn?t been willing to do, including nuclear non-proliferation and port security but also including a harder line with Pakistan and Saudi Arabia on their support for Al Qaeda. Couch it in language that makes it sound as if Kerry will take a tougher line with terrorists than Bush has. It may not be what progressives want to hear, but it?s probably the only way for Kerry to ?change the dynamic of the race? at this point.
