To Be Respected in the World

Every day seems to bring more evidence that John Kerry got it, but was a year or two ahead of his time. Recall the title of his plan published during the campaign, Our Plan for America : Stronger at Home, Respected in the World.

The public just wasn’t ready to understand this in 2004, but perhaps they are now. A new Gallup Poll finds that only 33% of Americans believe leaders of other countries respect Bush, the lowest percentage to date. “Further indicating America’s negative image in the world is the fact that only 43% of respondents are satisfied with the position of the United States in the world today, while 54% are dissatisfied. These numbers are worse than those seen in 1966 when America was at the height of the Cold War.”

BBC News notes that “President Bush’s popularity ratings have plummeted,” but questions why “the opposition, the Democrats, are not surfing the opinion polls, capitalising on the Republicans’ misfortunes and preparing to take over Congress when the election comes in the autumn?” While there are many faults in the author’s analysis, he argues that “Democrats do not have a message on the key issues of our time. Or, more precisely, they have several mutually exclusive messages.”

One problem is that John Kerry had the right message, but it takes longer than one political campaign to disseminate the message over the interference of the right wing noise machine. Republicans spent years spreading misinformation and building support before they took control. Our goals are not helped when many Democrats, for a variety of reasons, are working at cross purposes by repeating right wing talking points and smears about Kerry rather than spreading Kerry’s message. Nor are our chances for victory helped when Democrats continue to spread the untrue claim that Kerry supported the war, or the totally misinformed and irrational argument that Kerry conceded in Ohio before all the votes were counted.

There is still considerable hope for 2006 (and even more for 2008 where the numbers are better for Democrats in the Senate). In addition to the Republican collapse in public support, we must keep in mind that few predicted the Republican take over of Congress before the vote in 1994. Those who question the Democrats’ success this year are being rather premature in doing so before anyone has even gone out to vote.