Three Perils for Kerry's 'Honeymoon' by Robert Kuttner [View All]

[Classical_Liberal]

Three Perils for Kerry's 'Honeymoon'
by Robert Kuttner


SENATOR JOHN Kerry has enjoyed more party unity than any Democratic challenger in memory. Democrats are so eager to oust George Bush that the normally fractious party of the people is willing to cut Kerry immense amounts of slack. On the whole, that shift reflects overdue maturity.

However, Kerry's honeymoon could founder on three key questions -- his budget strategy, Iraq, and his choice of running mate.

Kerry-nomics. The Kerry camp, to the consternation of liberals, has now embraced deficit reduction as its economic centerpiece. The policy is sensible as far as it goes. But will it go too far and moot social investment?

As economics, the premise is that a repeat of Clinton's performance in reducing the deficits accumulated by Reagan and Bush I will reassure money markets and restore high growth. As politics, the idea is: First, keep it simple. The Clinton era is associated with prosperity. Clinton turned deficits to surpluses. Ergo, Kerry should do likewise.

Second, Kerry is being blasted as a big spending Massachusetts liberal. Therefore, bend over backwards to demonstrate that Kerry is more fiscally responsible than Bush.

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0414-02.htm