The Art of Politics

Now You Tell Me

Sometimes advice is too little, too late...

The Drudge Report is reporting that President Clinton spoke with John Kerry from his hospital room for some 90 minutes, and among the other advice offered was to "stop talking about Viet Nam".

So NOW he tells him...

The cat is out of the bag on this one. As we predicted, McCain has folded up his defense of Kerry like a lawn chair. Kerry going after Cheney's record directly and Bush's by inference has put Kerry's own record on the table. While Bush himself has said Kerry's service supercedes his own, Bush isn't the one scoring direct hits on Kerr'y record, it's the Swift Vets.

Had Kerry heeded this advice earlier, he could have avoided his midnight serenade after the Bush speech that has drawn mostly negative reviews, ours included.

But another question arises - should anyone take campaign advice from Bill Clinton? Clinton's been something of a touch-of-death for candidates other than himself. Clinton campaign tactics work well... for Clinton. The problem with Kerry's candidacy is Kerry, and that he's relied on one thing - not being George Bush - to carry him to this point. At no point has he really had to be anything but.

When the White House was struggling with poor communication and bad news through the summer, that's enough, but when the White House shoots itself in the foot, you can't depend on them to reload and do it again...

Posted by MEC2 at September 5, 2004 10:51 PM