Obviously, John F. Kerry hopes that his initials, his thick shock of hair and his New England accent remind you of an earlier (and ironically far more conservative–in oh so many ways) JFK. But his style so far is much more reminiscent of the fellow JFK campaigned against in ’60, and who would assume the Oval Office himself eight years later.
Just as Richard Nixon had a “secret plan” to end Vietnam, Kerry has his own secret plans–one for Iraq, another for taxes, and another for the economy. And none of them can be disclosed until he’s elected!
Robert Rubin, Kerry’s financial advisor says:
If you start to put out proposals now, they would be vigorously attacked and they would in effect become tainted so they couldn’t be used.
I know Kerry came of age while Nixon was in office, but it’s becoming increasingly obvious that what Nixon’s paranoia has rubbed off on Kerry. He won’t reveal his plans to voters, blames his (and his wife’s) gaffes on others.
Nixon had to reinvent his dark image to get elected in ’68 (remember “The New Nixon”?) It’s too late for Kerry to reinvent himself before November–especially with stories like this:
On domestic issues, Kerry gave a “rock hard” pledge not to raise middle-class taxes if he becomes president, though he said a national emergency or war could change that.
Reminded that the country is at war already, Kerry said, “We’re going to reduce the burden in this war, and if we do what we need to do for our economy, we’re going to grow the tax base of our country.”
Lee Atwater once said, that political campaigns aren’t all that complicated. “When you got ’em by the throat, you take out a damn howitzer and blow their brains out.”
Update: Cal Thomas looks at “Kerry’s stealth plan for Iraq” in the context of both Nixon and Ike’s secret plans to end the wars that were ongoing while they were campaigning (Vietnam and Korea, respectively)–neither of which did.
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