Eyes on the White House, Kerry Keeps Focus on Vietnam
From: The New York Times, By David M. Halbfinger - August 25, 2003
San Antonio - As he criticized the Bush administration's handling of the war in Iraq, Senator John Kerry assured thousands of fellow V.F.W. members today that should he become commander in chief, "I won't just bring to that profound responsibility the perspective of sitting in the situation room — I'll also bring the perspective of someone who's fought on the front lines."
Next week, when he formally announces his presidential campaign in Charleston, S.C., Mr. Kerry will stand in front of a World War II aircraft carrier that was used in Vietnam and beside crew members from his tour of duty as a patrol boat officer in the Mekong Delta, where he won the Silver Star, the Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts.
Wherever Senator Kerry goes these days, he talks about his war record. In doing so, Mr. Kerry is identifying his campaign with his service in Vietnam more closely than others who have run, like Senator John McCain and former Vice President Al Gore. So far, he has skirted the controversies that surrounded that war, which he fought in and then marched against, as he uses it to present himself as a battle-hardened Democrat who can handle the national security challenges that each party believes will be central to next year's election. He is also seeking to show that he can withstand the kinds of attacks that Republicans have successfully made on Democrats in past elections over issues of national security.
Mr. Kerry's advisers say he is still introducing himself to the countless voters who do not remember him from 1971, when he wore his ribbons on his Navy fatigues and testified against the war on television, instantly becoming a national celebrity. They say it is an obvious way for him to reach out to veterans, a large constituency on whose behalf he has worked for many years in the Senate. And they say his constant recitation of his wartime experience is only natural in the world after Sept. 11, where national security has become a threshold issue and where some say the problems and perils of rebuilding Iraq are reminiscent of the quagmire that Vietnam became.
Above all, though, his allies are convinced that Mr. Kerry's wartime record will inoculate him against Republican attacks like those that depicted Michael S. Dukakis, his boss when Mr. Kerry was lieutenant governor of Massachusetts, as weak on national security.
"Karl Rove will dismember every Democratic candidate based on their record of service," Henry G. Cisneros, the former San Antonio mayor and cabinet secretary, said today at a breakfast with Mr. Kerry's local supporters. "He'll say they're not tough enough. They cannot do that to Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts."
Similarly, Chris Lehane, an adviser to the Kerry campaign, said that its Internet traffic had spiked in April after Mr. Kerry defended his right to criticize the Bush administration by saying he had "fought for and bled for" the right to speak out.
"I think Democrats relish and revel in the idea that they all have a candidate who has the military background that John McCain has, who can then take it to Bush — that he can directly challenge Bush, Cheney and the rest of the Republican gang who think they have sole and exclusive authority over patriotism."
Read more...
Clearly America needs a leader like John Kerry now, more than ever. Were we not at war, the choices might be different, but we can not risk another leader without military experience trying to lead us out of the mess Bush has created.
Douglas Brinkley, historian and author has this to say about John Kerry:
"When you get into the Kerry story, the fact that they were sending 50-foot aluminum boats up canals along the Cambodian border to get shot at, it's very similar to Iraq, where every other day, somebody gets picked off," he said. "Clearly we were the invader in a very foreign culture, and we had no real exit strategy except Vietnamization. If our exit strategy from Iraq is Iraqization — here, Kerry, who knows what it's like to be shot up in a war that Americans forgot about, is a pretty good messenger to talk about the arrogance of power."
From: The New York Times, By David M. Halbfinger - August 25, 2003
San Antonio - As he criticized the Bush administration's handling of the war in Iraq, Senator John Kerry assured thousands of fellow V.F.W. members today that should he become commander in chief, "I won't just bring to that profound responsibility the perspective of sitting in the situation room — I'll also bring the perspective of someone who's fought on the front lines."
Next week, when he formally announces his presidential campaign in Charleston, S.C., Mr. Kerry will stand in front of a World War II aircraft carrier that was used in Vietnam and beside crew members from his tour of duty as a patrol boat officer in the Mekong Delta, where he won the Silver Star, the Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts.
Wherever Senator Kerry goes these days, he talks about his war record. In doing so, Mr. Kerry is identifying his campaign with his service in Vietnam more closely than others who have run, like Senator John McCain and former Vice President Al Gore. So far, he has skirted the controversies that surrounded that war, which he fought in and then marched against, as he uses it to present himself as a battle-hardened Democrat who can handle the national security challenges that each party believes will be central to next year's election. He is also seeking to show that he can withstand the kinds of attacks that Republicans have successfully made on Democrats in past elections over issues of national security.
Mr. Kerry's advisers say he is still introducing himself to the countless voters who do not remember him from 1971, when he wore his ribbons on his Navy fatigues and testified against the war on television, instantly becoming a national celebrity. They say it is an obvious way for him to reach out to veterans, a large constituency on whose behalf he has worked for many years in the Senate. And they say his constant recitation of his wartime experience is only natural in the world after Sept. 11, where national security has become a threshold issue and where some say the problems and perils of rebuilding Iraq are reminiscent of the quagmire that Vietnam became.
Above all, though, his allies are convinced that Mr. Kerry's wartime record will inoculate him against Republican attacks like those that depicted Michael S. Dukakis, his boss when Mr. Kerry was lieutenant governor of Massachusetts, as weak on national security.
"Karl Rove will dismember every Democratic candidate based on their record of service," Henry G. Cisneros, the former San Antonio mayor and cabinet secretary, said today at a breakfast with Mr. Kerry's local supporters. "He'll say they're not tough enough. They cannot do that to Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts."
Similarly, Chris Lehane, an adviser to the Kerry campaign, said that its Internet traffic had spiked in April after Mr. Kerry defended his right to criticize the Bush administration by saying he had "fought for and bled for" the right to speak out.
"I think Democrats relish and revel in the idea that they all have a candidate who has the military background that John McCain has, who can then take it to Bush — that he can directly challenge Bush, Cheney and the rest of the Republican gang who think they have sole and exclusive authority over patriotism."
Read more...
Clearly America needs a leader like John Kerry now, more than ever. Were we not at war, the choices might be different, but we can not risk another leader without military experience trying to lead us out of the mess Bush has created.
Douglas Brinkley, historian and author has this to say about John Kerry:
"When you get into the Kerry story, the fact that they were sending 50-foot aluminum boats up canals along the Cambodian border to get shot at, it's very similar to Iraq, where every other day, somebody gets picked off," he said. "Clearly we were the invader in a very foreign culture, and we had no real exit strategy except Vietnamization. If our exit strategy from Iraq is Iraqization — here, Kerry, who knows what it's like to be shot up in a war that Americans forgot about, is a pretty good messenger to talk about the arrogance of power."
posted by Pamela J. Leavey at 9:50 PM
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