Teresea Heinz, wife of John Kerry, told Newsweek recently that Kerry strives to please most everyone. In general, this isn’t such a bad life philosophy. But it does lead to some problems when it translates into shifting foreign policy stances.
Kerry told Seattlelites yesterday that Bush used “force before exhausting diplomacy” in Iraq and “underminded the legacy of generations of American leadership.”
In the same speech, however, Kerry openly announced to terrorists: "As commander in chief, I will bring the full force of our nation's power to bear on finding and crushing your networks...Any potential adversary should know that we will defend ourselves against the possibility of attack by unconventional arms. If such a strike does occur, as commander in chief, I will respond with
overwhelming and devastating force.”
In addition to making vague attacks on Bush, the Democratic presidential nominee is sounding more like a war-mongerer than an alternative to Bush’s
foreign policy. Also, his solutions to the problems in Iraq are about as vague as his critiques of Bush. As The Seattle Times reports: “What (Kerry) won't do is give many details about what he'd do differently than Bush in Iraq today.”
Perhaps Former Colorado Sen. Gary Hart, who introduced Kerry at the speech
yesterday, has a reason for why Kerry’s sound-byte filled speeches have
little content. Hart told The Times that the only limit on how much Kerry should talk about Iraq is "a limit only of boredom. If you get into much detail, people will nod off."
Right.
Of course, Bush’s speeches are usually at least 50 percent sound bytes and often lack clear details and complete explanations -- as seems to be the case
with nearly all politicians these days. But it seems his recently-announced
5-point outline for the
future of Iraq is a much more clear strategy plan for Iraq than the one proposed by all-we-need-is-diplomacy Kerry (who is now, apparently,
simulteneously war-mongering, by traditional anti-war standards).
Also, I think hard facts and solid evidence might reveal the effects of Bush’s foreign policy better than Kerry’s rhetoric. The Times reports today on the possibility of Libya, a former terrorist threat, and the U.S. working together on the humanitarian crisis in Sudan:
“U.S. willingness to seek out Libyan cooperation reflects the progress that the nation's ties with Libya have made in recent months. Libya's decision last December to dispose of its deadliest weapons has transformed the relationship dramatically. The two countries are in the process of establishing normal diplomatic relations.”
Let’s not take politician’s vague sound bytes at face value.
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