Via IP I found a link to this piece from James Lileks discussing why Kerry is running for president:
So why does Kerry want to be president?
The reason is almost tautological: John Kerry wants to be president because he is John Kerry, and John Kerry is supposed to be president. Hence his campaign's flummoxed and tone-deaf response to the swift boat vets. Ban the books, sue the stations, retreat, attack. Underneath it all you can sense the confusion. How dare they attack Kerry? He's supposed to be president. It's almost treason in advance.
It's not enough to believe you should be president. Clueless mortals need some hints. Is he motivated by a broad ideological agenda? There's no Kerry Doctrine, no Kerry Approach, no Tony-Blair-style "third way" gambit. There's just Lurch, lurching.
The war? He's said he would have gone to Iraq even if he knew then what he knows now — he just would have done it differently, whatever that means. He has endorsed the concept of pre-emptive war — but of course he would do it differently. It all seems to boil down to getting the French and the Germans on board so they can complain about the food and the quality of the sheets. He's pro-war when it counts, anti-war when it matters.
Inconsistencies are irrelevant, because he's consistently John Kerry. And he's supposed to be president.
Here's what he said about Bush:
It's fair to wonder why Bush wanted the job — and please, spare us all the Daddy psychobabble. Bush wanted to be president for the usual reasons. It looks nice on the resume. It's a select club. You might get your face on money or a mountain.
He had two issues: tax cuts and cutting taxes, with some mushy conservatism thrown in to realign moderate voters. If Sept. 11 hadn't happened, he'd be running again for no particular reason except inertia. Who wants to move after just four years? You have to pack, you have to change your magazine subscriptions. It's easier to stay.
But Sept. 11 changed him and his presidency. He wants to win the war and change the world. That usually takes more than one term; ask FDR.
I thought it was interesting that the same day I read this I also read this article with a direct statement from Bush explaining why he wants to remain president:
"There's a lot of my friends who come and bass-fish with me. They don't say it out loud, I know they're thinking it: Why?" Bush said. "And the answer is because the stakes are high. Because there is more work to be done to make the world a freer and more peaceful place. It is essential that America lead in the 21st century in order to defeat the ideologues who use terror as a weapon, in order to secure the homeland, but also in order to spread liberty. I know what needs to be done, I see clearly where we need to go and I want to spend four years leading toward that goal. And I believe the American people will give me that opportunity," he said.
Friday, August 27, 2004
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