The Art of Politics

Nuisance Insouciance

Sometimes, Kerry acts too smart for his own good...

Once again proving the axiom that often less is more, Senator Kerry remarked in an interview about US terror policy that the US goal needed to be a return to the times when terror was merely a "nuisance".

Some may be tempted to engage this statement seriously, parsing that you could never eliminate terror, but reduce it to where it is an infrequent occurrance. But we are not that generous. Rather than stick to a simple line about fighting terror wherever we find it, Kerry feels the need to demonstrate his understanding of nuance, and dilutes a winning message into one that invites criticism.

The problem is that inherently, Kerry's instincts are to play defense on terror. You can hear it in his policy goals - inspect every container coming into this country, monitor bridges and roads, railways and airports. In other words - play prevent defense.

Kerry often rejoins that we aren't fully funding our first responders - which sounds like a political winner, except that the goal is avoiding the need to respond in the first place. Kerry argues for a "Law & Order" world - the television show where a body appears, the detectives arrive, shrewdly determine the identity of the murderer, and crack attorneys with the DA send the criminals away. Which sounds pretty good - unless you are the dead body at the beginning of each episode.

President Bush maintains his lead on the terror issue because of his unequivocal statements that his terror policy is to be on the offense against terrorists and their sponsors. The Kerry/Edwards response is that "we will find you, and we will kill you", which sounds somewhat bleating coming from this ticket - it is a statement that doesn't quite fit their personas or policies. It sounds more like a protestation than a conviction.

Kerry needs to understand the economy of words. It's not like he can talk the terrorists to death, despite what sometimes seem like repeated attempts to do so...

Posted by MEC2 at October 12, 2004 10:36 PM