Kerry on the line

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

Time Magazine,
Sunday, May. 16, 2004

Iraq Is Not Just Bush's Problem
John Kerry exercises a sophisticated sense of political timing when 
speaking—and not speaking— about Iraq
By JOE KLEIN

John Kerry has been a very good Democrat these past few weeks, roaming 
the country, talking up the bran-muffin issues that Democrats really, 
really care about: education and health care. He's even been a wee bit 
adventurous. He challenged the teachers' unions with a clever deal—more 
pay in return for less job protection (it is nearly impossible to fire a 
lousy teacher these days). Last week he reintroduced his thoughtful 
health-insurance proposal, which might even be politically plausible—if 
still not entirely affordable—if the Bush tax cut for people earning 
more than $200,000 is eliminated.

Of course, practically no one was listening. It was like Nero offering a 
brilliant water-and-sewage plan for Rome in the midst of the fire. The 
Bush Iraq policy lay shattered in tiny pieces; the President seemed 
crestfallen in his public appearances. Indeed, Kerry's message 
discipline—broken by occasional, measured responses to reporters' 
questions about the war—almost seemed a clever way to avoid the issue. 
His audiences waited in vain for a passionate response to the Iraq debacle.

At a town-hall meeting in Orlando, Fla., the tension was broken by a 
young Army reservist named Charity Thompson, recently returned from 
Iraq, who said she was having trouble getting medical care from the 
Veterans Administration. Her story, and her implicit anger about the 
war, was greeted with a vehement standing ovation. Kerry responded to 
the health-care point but stayed clear of the war. Later Thompson told 
me, "I wanted to hear what he had to say about Iraq. I despise this war, 
and 99.9% of the people I served with feel the same way. We should bring 
our troops home now. I'd really like to know what Kerry thinks about that."

full: 
<http://www.time.com/time/election2004/columnist/klein/article/0,18471,638338,00.html>

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