Reply #13: Kerry's love of the status quo

[Voltaire99]

Great post.

An example of what you describe occurred a few weeks ago on C-SPAN. There was Kerry, having delivered a thoughtful if tepid establishment-worthy speech to a crowd, when the Q&A began and a blue collar guy asked how US workers can hope to compete against their counterparts in nations where the income and standard of living is so much lower.

Tough question. It's really *the* question for what's left of the working class that isn't schlepping crap behind a counter at the mall. One good answer is something like, "During tough times and in an uncertain world we must all pull together. I'll pull out of NAFTA, and I'll penalize US companies that export jobs. Internationally, abysmal labor standards are killing us, and American companies that would rather dump their own workers to increase profits are a major part of that problem. It's time for Americans to pull together--and that means executives have to start standing behind American workers. Shareholder profit may be the highest goal of a company, but it is not the highest goal of our nation."

Kerry's answer? A rambling ten minute discourse that might have played well in a graduate seminar at the Kennedy School. He made some slight noises about unfair trade regulations, and he larded his every sentence with nuance, but he backpedaled and slipped and slided so much that it was clear in short time (after he'd swiftly lost the thread) that what animates him is the caressing and nibbling at the ears of a problem, blowing conventional wisdom at it, rather than identifying and advocating solutions. Footnotes seemed to coalesce in thin air; no wonder the worker who asked the question looked defeated and confused, and not a little pissed off.

It is just that sort of nothingness that makes me fear the Democratic Party will settling for more of its tired stalking of the center, where principle is spread as thin as skin over the hips of a hungry model. The errors and blunders and dishonesty of the right have handed the party an historic opportunity, but whether it is smart or even decent enough to seize the opportunity is still a question.