Michael Carmichael

archived: 12 - 18 Sept, 2004 Back Next

50 DAYS TO GO

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Junkie: Michael Carmichael suggests that you read the following article as a prelude to his comments this week:

50 days to go, 10 points behind, Kerry struggles for second wind

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The international media have the impression that Kerry is indecisive, unfocused and losing the election due to his own addiction to nuance.

John Zogby reports that there has not been a Bush bounce of 14 points. He says that the battleground states are still very much in play, but he confirms that Bush has made significant gains in them, and he now has momentum.

Cheered on by John Sasso, Kerry has been gamely fighting back from the campaign stumps.

At Kerry's national headquarters, Joe Lockhart has brought a new and much more responsive and combative style to the campaign.

Meanwhile, Kerry's media producers are reportedly making a television spot out of his latest "W" stands for "Wrong" litany. Apparently, this is to make Kerry appear more personally combative and therefore, decisive.

I wonder. Frankly, with the enormous catalogue of catastrophes brimming over the top of Bush's record, why we want to reduce our candidate to the level of launching a negative campaign on the wings of a dubious cliché.

Why not a television spot to focus on Herbert Hoover, his loss of jobs, his promise of a "chicken in every pot" and prosperity "right around the corner" with a comparison to Bush's job figures, tax cuts for the rich, economic recession and joblessness for the poor and his campaign slogan "Four More Years!"? This is merely one concept that would be much more effective than John Kerry venting - however correctly - about "W" being the wrong choice and, "Wrong, wrong and wrong!" "W" is wronger than wrong in my book, but we certainly can, and we certainly should do much better than that a cliché of a concept for a television spot.

With 50 days and counting, John Kerry is finding his feet and fighting back, but the Kerry campaign media team is still a staggering disappointment. As Julian Borger states in the article above, the debates that will start on the 30th of September will be Kerry's last stand and his last chance to transform the discourse in this campaign.

NEXT - STEVEN JONAS

Last Update: 03/23/2006