Must Kerry change?

[JHBowden]

Every time the polls oscillate, one knows a given number of people will despair. Some are eager to pimp their "suggestions" for Mr. Kerry, some declare a Bush win inevitable, while others shoot the messenger and diss the polls with the Bush-Nader team ahead.

I plead for perspective.

Before Kerry won the nomination, most of the polling indicated all Democrats were lucky if they polled within 10% of Bushit. In addition, the Republicans have blown 50 million dollars in attack advertising against Mr. Kerry. They have barely made a dent given the amount they have spent. In the meantime, Kerry has been pretty low key while Bush is taking hits on the only thing going for him, the war on terror.

Several factors are working in our favor. One, Senator Kerry is a seasoned pro that rarely makes mistakes. Bush is a very error prone candidate, and this will continue to hurt him if the RNC continues to do a bad job shielding Bush from the press. Secondly, Kerry is an outstanding debater. He comes well prepared and is artful with his language.

I fear those asking for drastic changes in Kerry's style (perhaps to a "cool" Kerry or a "friendly" Kerry) instead of the authoritative Senatorial Kerry we all know are asking for a repeat of what happened to Mr. Gore four years ago. Gore abandoned the knowledgeable geek persona and kept changing his personality, which turned off voters. I find this unfortunate, since Gore's inner nerd could have been a real strength.

Regardless whether one agrees with Kerry on policy 100% or not, are changes in Kerry's tactics and style really necessary at this juncture?

[Timefortruth]

1. A drastic change would be catastrophic.

But he must seem more engaged.

[Mz Pip]

2. No

There is no point in fabricating positions to just appeal to the polls. He'd get hammered if he does.

If he changes his style, it would be just like Al Gore changing his wardrobe. IT would just give the press the opportunity to spend endless time on useless crap and little on the substantive issues.

There was an old West Wing episode that had "Let Bartlett Be Bartlett" a theme for getting his message out.

We would not be well served by having Kerry reinvent himself. Let him do what he has prepared himself to do for the past 20 years.

MzPip
:dem:

[SpartacusSC]

3. Don't change, just let it out.....

He wouldn't have stood up for his principles for so long if he didn't believe them. He just needs to let it out in a heartfelt way. Gore had a similar problem. Both are fine leaders, they just have a hard time "humanizing" their beliefs and commitment.

Clinton was a master at wearing his passion on his sleeve. Edwards has some of that in him, and look at how it resonated.

*edited for extraneous parentheticals*

[AndyTiedye]

4. They Can Spend 50 Million Every Month

>the Republicans have blown 50 million dollars in attack advertising against Mr. Kerry

They're going to spend that much every month until the election.
More as it gets closer.

[Lefergus70]

5. Public would empathize if he said "You lied to me Dick!"

An op-ed piece in the Hartford Courant by Andrew Christie, reprinted by Common Dreams <http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0419-09.htm> offers a dramatic suggestion on how Kerry should halt the current GOP campaign painting him as a flip-flopper. It recalls how Cheney, speaking to an NRA crowd last week, said Kerry could try to "explain or explain away all he wants" his vote to authorize the Iraq war, but such vacillation was unbecoming in a man who would be Commander in Chief.

If Kerry followed Christie's script he would apologize to the American people with words like these:

"I accept my share of responsibility for the thousands who have since died and are still dying in an elective war that had nothing to do with the war on terrorism but which you and your fellow extremists at the Project for a New American Century had been lusting after since 1992, a war you wanted so badly you lied to Congress and the American people to get it, you dark and terrible man. I was not cynical enough. I know I must make amends for my mistake. But first, come November, the American people must fix another mistake."

Why not? The public would understand that Kerry is human too, and like them, he was also conned. End of flip-flop smear campaign.

[Guaranteed]

6. Your "factors" are way off.

To begin with, Kerry has ALREADY made several mistakes in the past 2-3 years, with his voting record- they could even prove to be fatal. It hurts one's credibility VERY badly when one has been voting WITH one's opponents policies for so long.

Two, while Bush IS an error-prone candidate, you're giving Kerry way too much credit in a head-to-head debate with him. They have very different styles, for sure, but, unfortunately, Bush's very simple, repetitive style typically beats Kerry's flowery and explanatory style. Kerry tries to complicate, while Bush tries to simplify. Not to mention the fact that Kerry can't attack Bush where he's most vulnerable without looking like a hypocrite or indecisive leader. Bush will win that competition, even arguing from the position of failed policy.

Kerry's advantage is that, put very simply, Bush is a horrible president. Again, though, because of his cowardice and lack of integrity Kerry can't call Bush on most of his failures- and he STILL hasn't learned. It's a goddamned tragedy.

[eumesmo]

7. Kerry change?

I disagree that Bush is error-prone. He is very cautious and careful. The errors he makes are usually trivial ones, like mangling language.

I don't know if debates will be helpful to Kerry or not. Bush did well against Gore in the debates, and I'm not sure if Kerry is better at debating than Gore. Edwards looked like the best debater. Kerry needs to improve his answers, which he seems to be working at. Short and to the point.

I agree completely that changing or attempting to change would be a major mistake. I'm not sure attempting to position himself as a centrist or moderate is a good idea. I know conventional wisdom is to position yourself to the center to win the election, but it may open him to charges of flip-flopping.

Perhaps Conkrite is right (paraphrasing a bit -- Kerry should say "I'm a progressive and proud of it").