Kerry, Don't Run

John, perish the thought! -- Picture courtesy Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
Word has it that John Kerry wants to run again for President in 2008. While I was an avid Kerry/Edwards supporter in 2004, I think it would be ill advised for him to run again. The reasons are really pretty simple, we'll lay them out here:

Campaign staff - Kerry's campaign staff was in disarray much of the time. He fired campaign manager Jim Jordan in November 2003; replaced him with a relatively inexperienced Mary Beth Cahill. He also had Bob Shrum as a campaign consultant. Shrum was known primarily for losing campaigns prior to 2004. He and the inexperienced Cahill butted heads much of the time. For all their head butting, they made some lame decisions. If Kerry couldn't handle the management of his own campaign staff, how on earth would he handle the Presidency?

Lack of a war room - When Clinton ran for president in 1992, he made a couple of things very clear:
o He would fight fire with fire if necessary and
o He would respond rapidly.
Kerry lacked an effective war room.

The above two problems proved fatal for Kerry when the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth", led by veteran John O'Neill, suggested that Kerry was "Unfit for Command". The main argument they gave was that Kerry's anti Vietnam war activism had undermined the confidence of soldiers. A couple of soldiers quibbled with Kerry's medals, although no credible evidence was presented that Kerry was undeserving of his medals. For 3 weeks in August of 2004, these accusations went unchallenged. When someone slaps you in the face and calls you a "varmint" -- that's a challenge. You don't try to ignore it and hope the electorate "sees through the ploy". The electorate responds positively to ads for thigh master and spray-on hair. The electorate isn't that discerning. Yet Kerry tried to ignore the negative ads. Also, three weeks in a presidential campaign is an eternity -- it was enough time for SBVT to come out with a quickie, best-selling book. Kerry was all but done by the time he wimpily replied to SBVT's accusations.

In 1992, Clinton established a sharp-shooter war room staffed with the likes of James Carville and George Stephanopoulos. When "the enemy" got down and dirty, the Clinton team did likewise -- it was an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. If someone insulted Clinton and the horse he rode up on, Clinton's staff served back the insult with panache. No accusation, insinuation or negative ad campaign would go unanswered. Kerry, take note: A tough campaign team is a very good sign of a tough, together candidate. Mr. Kerry, if this were tiddly winks or checkers, we'd all say, "Fine -- give it another go". But the presidency is far too important to risk it on a bumbling, stumbling, mumbling campaign staff. Please give your support to the next Democrat "comer" and help with his or her war room effort. It would be a much better way to redeem yourself for what happened in 2004.

© 2006 blogSpotter.