And I’m No Slouch Myself

A refreshing John Kerry article, resulting from an hour interview, was published in the Sunday edition of the Washington Post. It was the first article or broadcast clip I’ve seen in which Kerry came across as just speaking his mind as opposed to “politicking”.

In the article, he touched on a few taboo foreign policy subjects, such as what our role in the world should really be. According to the article, “Sen. John F. Kerry indicated that as president he would play down the promotion of democracy as a leading goal in dealing with Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, China and Russia, instead focusing on other objectives that he said are more central to the United States' security.”

From strictly a political standpoint, given the current situation in which patriotism and the spread of democracy are commonly used to defend our invasion of Iraq, statements such as those by Kerry are likely to further alienate him from the far right. Previously, he seemed to not want to ruffle those feathers, despite the fact that no matter what he says or does, there’s a certain population that’s just not going to like him or any Democrat for that matter.

On a personal level, I’m happy to hear that the spread of American ideals isn’t the goal for at least a portion of our political elite. It seems that the more we try to exact our ideals on the rest of the world, the more the rest of the world hates us. Maybe it’s time to try a different tact, which appears to be what Kerry is proposing.

Although I’m in favor of his statements and policy, I can already envision the ad campaign portraying Kerry as un-patriotic – similar to the way he was portrayed for throwing his medals (or ribbons) over the wall during the infamous anti-war demonstration in the 70s. I’ve never understood why and how there’s a perception that wars are a patriotic action and anyone that personally doesn’t abdicate the use of force in a given situation is by default unpatriotic.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A1443-2004May29.html

Headline Quote Movie of Origin: Caddyshack
Character: Judge Smails
Setting: Judge Smails trying to convince Ty Webb (Chevy Chase) to play golf with him. Ty Webb responds with, “ Don't sell yourself short Judge, you're a tremendous slouch.”
The quote is relevant to this story how?: John Kerry reminds me of Judge Smails a bit. They’re both Old Money, have that tight jaw look and a fakeness that’s hard to nail down. And Kerry up to this point seems to be a bit in the “don’t forget about me” role.






Contact El Duderino at jaipf@hotmail.com.