July 28, 2004
TALK ABOUT NUANCED:
Democrats hope a buzzword will leave Bush smarting: Subtle and provocative, 'wisdom' is all the rage among DNC speakers (Don Aucoin, July 28, 2004, Boston Globe)
If John Kerry seems leery of the L word, seeking to avoid being saddled with the "liberal" label that helped doom the presidential candidacies of fellow Bay Staters Ted Kennedy and Mike Dukakis, he appears to have no problem with the W word.
It has nothing to do with President Bush's middle initial. The word is "wisdom," and it is getting a workout at this week's Democratic National Convention, along with its musclebound wingman, the word "strength."
Speaker after speaker, from former President Bill Clinton to former Vice President Al Gore, has extolled Kerry's wisdom. It's enough to make you wonder whether the Democrats are nominating Socrates rather than the junior senator from Massachusetts.
It's a pretty good indication of what a hothouse a convention is when your people think "Wisdom" is the key to victory. This is especially the case since Mr. Kerry doesn't fare very well on the wisdom test:
Posted by Orrin Judd at July 28, 2004 9:17 AM
It was rather rich hearing former president Bill Clinton going on about wisdom. Hey Bill, at least President Bush has enough wisdom to keep his johnson in his pants while occupying what is easily the most scrutinized office in the land.
Posted by: David Crawford at July 28, 2004 9:24 AMI'm beginning to think the Dems are falling for their own pr. The task of a challenger is to demonstrate why the incumbent must be voted out and/or why they would be better. The Dems seem to think that "I'm not Bush" will carry the day for them since they assume everyone thinks Bush is useless. As the economy and Iraq improves the voters will say Bush is doing ok and will be less likely to take a chance on an undefined challenger.
Posted by: AWW at July 28, 2004 9:28 AMI only caught the end of Obama's speech--who knew the keynote would be ten minutes...--but got the part where John Kerry will house the homeless, feed the foodless, yadda, yadda, yadda. Were there any specifics at all in the speech or are we just supposed to think Democrats want to help people and Republicans don't?
Posted by: oj at July 28, 2004 9:33 AMGiven the French-looking nature of the Democrats' nominee, I think the party got their buzzwords for the past two campaigns mixed up -- "Wisdom" should have been their key word for Gore and "gravitas" should have been the one they used for Kerry.
Posted by: John at July 28, 2004 10:02 AMHarkin: "El Presidente Generalissimo Ortega, allow me to introduce to you one of your fellow travelers, Senator Juan Kerry."
Posted by: H.D. Miller at July 28, 2004 1:54 PM"Ah, Senator, so nice of you to come all the way from Paris. How is my good friend Comrade Mitterand these days?"
Posted by: Mike Morley at July 28, 2004 3:41 PM"Don't worry, my Senatorial comrades - you will not be prosecuted for violating the Logan Act".
Posted by: jim hamlen at July 28, 2004 10:02 PM