"TED KENNEDY WITH A FRESH LIVER" ISN'T CATCHING ON?:

In 5 Words by Langston Hughes, Kerry Aides Hear a Likely Campaign Slogan (DAVID M. HALBFINGER, 6/01/04, NY Times)

John Kerry's campaign has been a font of slogans and catch phrases, but few of them have caught on - even with him.

Early on he offered a "better set of choices," then said he would make America "safer, stronger, more secure." Last September he found the "courage to do what's right for America." In November he declared himself "the real deal" and dared President Bush to "bring it on." In March he promised "change starts here," in April he vowed to "build a stronger America," and in early May he touted his "lifetime of service and strength."

In the past two weeks, however, Mr. Kerry has begun consistently wrapping up his speeches with yet another pithy phrase that, while not original, has his advisers sounding confident that it will stick: "Let America be America again."

It is the title of a 1938 poem by Langston Hughes, and Mr. Kerry has mainly been invoking its first lines: "Let America be America again./ Let it be the dream it used to be."

For Mr. Kerry, a central quandary has been how to convey in just a few words an argument against the incumbent as well as an alternative vision of his own. And while much of his platform amounts to picking up where the Clinton administration left off, Mr. Kerry's advisers say they are mindful that campaigns are won by talking about the future, not the past, however recent.

Wow, that one's a toss-up--is it because:

(a) He's undisciplined?

(b) Those slogans suck? Especially the Hughes one, which is Stalinist.

(c) Both?

Meanwhile, he wants to pick up where Bill Clinton left off? With the economy slipping into recession and al Qaeda ignored? There's a winning platform.

Posted by Orrin Judd at June 1, 2004 5:30 PM