July 31, 2004 [LINK]
Kerry's speech: vague on policy
John Kerry's acceptance speech on Thursday night was mostly mainstream consensus views, leavened with lame platitudes. His delivery was just rousing enough to keep us awake, though it was painful to watch him struggle so hard to crack a smile. Charisma is not a prerequisite for the nation's highest office, and we sure as heck don't need another "talk show host" like Bill Clinton. His daughters tried to shed light on his less-uptight private personality the day before, and his regal wife Teresa likewise defended him for just being the way he is, and that's fine. (She has been criticized as self-centered, but I'm willing to give her the benefit of the doubt for the moment.)
As for the substance, Kerry was a little harsher on Bush than I expected, given the highly-disciplined restraint on show at the convention. The Democrats know very well that hatred of Bush is a two-edged sword that they must wield with great care. Kerry ably followed up Clinton's earlier criticism of the growing U.S. indebtedness to creditors in China and Japan, one consequence of Bush's tax cut fever. What struck me was Kerry's absence of specific proposals on domestic policy (are they planning a surprise?) and his emphasis on national strength and fighting terrorism. The shift in emphasis from the economy (which has been improving) to security (which is as uncertain as ever) represents a bold attempt to take the campaign fight to Bush's "home court," but it may backfire. Granted, building up the size of the regular Army is certainly overdue, but Kerry shouldn't have pandered to the Left by saying the additional troops would not be deployed to Iraq. Since military assets are "fungible," such a declaration really doesn't mean anything anyway. More generally, Kerry's proposed "multilateral" alternative approach to foreign policy is nothing more than wishful thinking. The idea that being nice to France or Russia or Germany is going to get them to take a more active role in fighting the Islamic terrorist menace in its heartland is simply not credible.
Among cyber-pundit reactions, I was a little surprised by Daniel Drezner's surprisingly positive take of Kerry's "liberal hawk" foreign policy platform. Lke me, Drezner regards himself as a moderate conservative, and I wonder whether he might be leaning toward Kerry in order to garner credibility from those in the center or on the left. To his credit, Drezner upbraided Kerry for simplistic pandering on the outsourcing issue. I'm disappointed in Glenn Reynolds for indulging in so much cheap derision of Kerry, such as poking fun over that NASA clean-room suit flap.