Two Strikes
Why Democrats need to be concerned about John Kerry’s debate performance
A good friend of mine forwarded this letter from a cousin of hers. She asked me to respond, so I took the time to do so, got rolling, and well. . . spent a lovely Saturday afternoon tapping at the keyboard.
No worries though, it’s not a bad analysis. The letter, her request, and my response are as follows:
Message below is from one of my cousins who lives in Maryland. Since you are so great with words will you read this and help me send him a reply mail to counter what he said?
Thanks in advance.
On another matter, you forward Republican material to me all the time but should know I do not support them or their policies. You obviously feel strongly about Bush but must realize, half the country disagrees with you and Bush is universally despised overseas by both our allies and our enemies. Many people believe he is the dumbest, most reckless, dishonest, arrogant, inarticulate, mean-spirited, clueless president in our history. I remember every president back to Truman and he is the worse in my lifetime, hands down.
I really fear for the future of our country if we do not turn away away from the destructive, divisive politics of Bush, Cheney, Rove, Ashcroft, Rumsfeld, Delay, and the rest of the right-wing ideologues who have high-jacked the Republican Party. By any account, the Bush administration has been a disaster for our country. He has put the special interests of corporate America and the super rich over the interests of the poor and middle classes like you and me. Since he took office:
The stock market is down.
The dollar is way, way down.
The total number of jobs is way down (first time since Herbert Hoover).
The number of manufacturing jobs is way down.
The annual deficient is at record levels and growing rapidly
The rich enjoy billions of dollars of tax cuts while middle American gets crumbs.
The trade deficient is way up and growing rapidly.
Energy prices are at record levels and increasing.
After having the sympathy of the entire world after 9/11, our prestige abroad is at an all time low.
We invaded another country on false pretentious and now mired down for the foreseeable future.
Iraq is becoming another Viet Nam. Not only have Bush’s misguided policies caused 1,000 American deaths and 7,000 wounded, many maimed and disabled, we have killed 10,000 innocent Iraqi civilians and wounded 50,00, including many women and children. But we don’t count Iraqi dead, as non-Christians, they apparently aren’t important. Meanwhile, Osama bin Laden is still on the loose but Bush no longer even mentions his name.
As a Christian, you obviously believe you know the “truth.” Well, hundreds of millions of Muslims, Hindus, Buddhas, Jews, Agnostics, and others don’t agree with you. Who is right can never be known but Christians represent only 25% of the world’s population, so you are in the minority. It’s time Americans stop using religion to feel superior and divide people into good (Christians) and evil (non-Christians). The use of religion by the Republicans to advance their agenda is sickening. Until this administration is out of office, I will continue to be ashamed and embarrassed to be an American.
Don’t mean to rain on your parade but don’t assume everyone shares your views. There are many sides of an issue and I learned long ago, just because you feel strongly about something, doesn’t mean you’re right. Hold onto your views but listen to others. That’s the problem with the Republicans, they don’t listen. And
that’s one reason they will be defeated in November.
Regards,
Geez! Where to start?!
Once again, he (like so many radical liberals) falls into the error of demonizing their opponents. Bush is not the antichrist. Sadly, most liberals can’t see the forest for the trees and focus on the issues that affect the nation. Terrorism, Iraq, the economy, homeland security, education, health care – the radical liberals talk all the time about how Bush hasn’t done enough, but never once ask the question “what have liberals done, and what do we intend to do differently?”
The real questions Democrats should be answering is what John Kerry intends to do differently:
* How does Kerry intend to expand economic prosperity better than President Bush, under whose adminstration we enjoyed GDP as high as 8.4%?
* How does Kerry – a man who voted against every major weapons sytem we are using to fight the war on terror – intend to prosecute the fight against terrorism in a manner that encourages our allies and strikes fear into the hearts of our enemies?
* How does Kerry intend to keep our allies when he insults and degrades the contributions of our Iraqi and Afghani allies?
* How does Kerry intend to pay for his health care programs? And who will small businesses pass the cost onto?
* What is Kerry’s exit strategy for Iraq? Afghanistan?
* How will Kerry resolve the nuclear ambitions of Iran? Will he use the same pre-emptive force that he criticized Bush for using? Or will he flip-flop to the previous position where he supported the president’s decision to remove Saddam and supported pre-emptive force?
* How will Kerry resolve the nuclear ambitions of North Korea? Why are bilateral talks which alienate our allies better than multilateral talks which include our allies and increase pressure on the Communist regime?
* Why is Iraq the “wrong war, at the wrong place, at the wrong time?” What message does this send to our troops? Their families? Our allies? The Iraqi people? The terrorists?
We have to get out of the mindset that everything that President Bush touches is somehow tainted as evil and bad. It’s demonization and poor rhetoric, pure and simple. President Bush has done a number of great things for the prestige and position of America in the modern world.
Keep these questions in mind for anyone who is vehemently critical of the president.
* Can anyone responsibly say that President Bush was not decisive after 9/11?
* Can anyone honestly say that the liberation of Afghanistan and Iraq was anything but a positive good?
* Can anyone honestly blame the 2000 recession (which began under Clinton) on current economic policies? If not (and logically, one cannot), then why is it appropriate to blame Bush for a recession that occured under President Clinton’s watch?
* Can anyone honestly point to the contributions of Poland, Italy, Britain, Australia, and the 26 other nations and say that our prestige in the world has suffered?
* Can anyone point towards the capitulation of Libya’s WMD program and say it was not a direct result of American intervention in Iraq? Syria’s compliance? Saudi Arabia’s compliance? Jordan’s compliance? The cessitation of suicide bombings in Israel thanks to the removal of their #1 financier, Saddam Hussein?
* Even in Iran, the nations we supposedly alienated – France, Germany, and Russia – are all following the lead of the United States in order to get Iran to disarm.
* In North Korea, can anyone honestly say – for all of Kerry’s protestations about involving allies in a “global test” – that *bi*lateral talks are preferable to the *multi*lateral talks engineered by President Bush?
Extracting the demonization out from the argument, does John Kerry have the answers to these issues? If not, then is it any small wonder why polls reflect that President Bush is trusted while John Kerry is not?
Democrats have to ask themselves these very vital questions in an honest and concrete manner that does not constantly refer to the faults of the current president. In short, radical liberals need to have a plan that is palatable to the American people. To date, they have one-liners and quotes from previous speeches of Kerry that sound good on paper, but share little substantive quality.
Backbenching is easy; leadership is tough. So while it is easy to fall into the trap of criticizing the president, President Bush has displayed precisely the kind of leadership America needed after 9/11. Simple as that.
Anti-Bush sentiment – no matter how strong – simply will not provide the alternative to Bush’s leadership in a post 9/11 world. America has give Kerry two chances in the debates to provide those answers, and twice he has failed. After Wednesday’s debate, I hope your cousin will have the chance to see which of these questions Kerry legitimately answers without slandering the President. If Kerry can do that, hats off to him. If not, then I sincerely hope your cousin (and anyone else) would consider President Bush in a better light.