A Test of Toughness (Kerry needs crisp answers)

[papau]

"The real tests of Kerry's toughness will be whether he can explain himself clearly and whether he can force Bush to defend views that the president would prefer that the public not know he holds,".... perhaps the real test for Kerry is better shown by the media response to Kerry's "sensitive" remark - putting him on the defensive for days, while the media leaves Bush's sales tax remark as a one day and out.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6682-2004Aug16.html

A Test of Toughness


By E. J. Dionne Jr.

Tuesday, August 17, 2004; Page A15


In a purely technical sense, you have to admire President Bush's campaign for its skill in shaping public perceptions and in grasping at any and every opportunity to make his opponent look bad.

When John Kerry said he still would have voted to give the president the authority to wage war in Iraq, the Bushies accused Kerry of being a flip-flopper.

How can sticking with a past vote make you a flip-flopper? Well, Kerry -- like many Americans -- is now critical of how Bush waged this war and how he failed to plan for its aftermath. The Bushies seem to be saying that Kerry should have known better than to give Bush the benefit of the doubt.

Kerry has said he would repeal the parts of the Bush tax cuts that favor Americans earning more than $200,000 a year. But Bush continues to scare people by implying that Kerry wants to raise taxes on everybody.<snip>

It would not be a bad thing if this campaign turned into a referendum on Bush's effort to shift taxes from wealth to work. But to move the debate in that direction, Kerry has to be as tough and strategic as Bush has been, and a lot crisper in explaining what he stands for.<snip>

If Kerry needs an even stronger offense on domestic issues, he also needs a much better defense of that Iraq vote of his. It really isn't so hard. When Bush went to Congress in the fall of 2002 for authorization to go to war in Iraq, he did so after saying he was going to the United Nations to seek international support for a war against Saddam Hussein.

Yes, the congressional resolution empowering Bush to wage war was far broader than it should have been. But when push came to shove, Kerry decided to take the chance in voting "yes" to strengthen Bush's hand in negotiating with the United Nations. That seeking U.N. support was never really a Bush priority and that he botched the postwar planning is the president's problem, not Kerry's. Why can't Kerry keep it that simple?<snip>

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1. papau

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