Accentuate the Positive

by Dan Jacoby

John Kerry can't win this election by bashing George W. Bush.

That's not to say there aren't plenty of reasons to disparage President Bush's record. Bush has failed to control the deficit, he has failed to create jobs, he has failed to stop Al Qaeda, he has failed to leverage world support after 9/11, he has failed to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, he has failed to make America safer, he has failed to protect our environment, he has failed to stem the growth of health care costs, he has failed to improve education, he has failed to ...

Pause now for a deep breath.

In short, President Bush's record is one enormous string of failures. Given this, you'd think the American people would be ready to vote for anyone else. You'd think that all someone had to do was point out how terrible a job George W. Bush has done, and that would be the end of the discussion.

If bashing Bush were enough, Howard Dean would be the Democratic nominee.

Americans know this President is a miserable failure. They know the economy stinks. They know jobs are being lost. They know we're not getting any safer. They know all the rest. What they don't know, and what a potential replacement for Bush needs to give them, is what will succeed. Senator Kerry needs to tell America how he can solve the problems we face. Because if Kerry fails to explain how he'll make America better, he'll lose the election.

In other words, better the devil you know ...

Does he have ideas? Of course he does.

Senator Kerry wants to roll back the Republican tax cuts for the wealthy. This will increase revenues and cut the deficit. Cutting the deficit will make money available for people to start new businesses and create jobs. It worked for President Clinton; it will work for President Kerry.

Senator Kerry wants to bring the United Nations, and a true coalition of major powers, into Iraq in a truly cooperative way. This will not only save American lives, but it will also make it much more likely that peace will come to that country. Furthermore, it will stem the tide of recruits who are flooding into terrorist organizations. Fewer terrorists mean a safer America.

He can then turn more attention, and more resources, into helping Afghanistan. As I write this, the Taliban has regained control of almost one-third of that country. And things are getting worse -- warlords control most of the rest. Thanks to Bush's fixation on Saddam Hussein, most of Afghanistan is a disaster area.

Through these efforts, America can regain both the moral high ground and the true leadership of the world. World leaders who either demanded payoffs for their support (Italy, Russia, Poland), or refused their support outright (France, Germany), will start working with us again.

And maybe, just maybe, Americans can once again take to the skies without first taking off their shoes.

But first, Kerry needs to start accentuating the positive. He needs to tell America how he can make things better. And the Democratic National Committee need to do the same. We don't need to spend a lot of time telling everyone how lousy George W. Bush is. We need to spend a lot of time showing everyone how wonderful the alternative can be.

That's how John Kerry can win this election.

 

Copyright 2004, Dan Jacoby

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