Let Kerry be Kerry

RJ Eskow writing at The Huffington Post reports that John Kerry called him to explain his postion on Iraq in response to a previous post. The post is long so I’ll refer readers to the original post for the specifics. There is still misinformation present (especially in the comments) but at least there is an attempt to understand Kerry's position. After discussing Kerry's explanation, he provides his impressions:

My impressions? I can’t have been the only observer who, in the first two years of the war, recalled Yeats’ line: “The best lack all convictions, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.” Kerry certainly had “passionate intensity” during our exchange. And, while he disagreed with my observations about political language, the impression lingers that he’s been accessing a different vocabulary since the election. Or maybe it’s fairer to say that this vocabulary, candid and direct, was present in 2004 - but not consistently, and never accurately reported.

The later is the more accurate impression. The John Kerry of 2006 is the same John Kerry of 2004, and the same John Kerry who protested the Vietnam War. Sure he campaigned towards the center, as any candidate would have, and sometimes let advisors muddle his message. Despite that, if you looked at what John Kerry was really saying, as opposed to what political opponents claimed he said, observers would see that this is all the same John Kerry. Should he run in 2008, hopefully he will dump any advisors who do not follow one important rule: Let Kerry Be Kerry.