Tiger Tiger

[TimeToGo]

October 21, 2004
OP-ED COLUMNIST
Hunting the Tiger
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

I'm sure that experts would tell us there are many reasons that the presidential race is too close to call, but I would argue that it all comes down to this one simple point: We still don't know which man used the debates to overcome his biggest liability.

SNIP -- the more interesting part of the column:

In British politics there used to be a standard test for candidates for prime minister: Would you want to go on a tiger hunt with this person? That is, would this candidate kill the tiger or try to reason with the tiger? Graham Allison, the Harvard international relations professor who just published a book called "Nuclear Terrorism: The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe," said to me the other day that the tiger hunt is even more relevant in America today.

"The big question about Kerry is, Will he pull the trigger?" Mr. Allison said. "And the big question about Bush is, Can he aim? With Bush, we know he can pull the trigger, but it's like he shot himself in the foot - and the tiger is still out there. It's the tiger who needs to be shot, not us."

END

Read the rest at: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/21/opinion/21friedman.html

Bush doesn't pull the trigger, he has someone else do it -- and has them shoot at the wrong target.